PURPLE CRACKLE. 
II5 
The note of this species is louder than that of the common 
kind, according to Audubon resembling a loud, shrill whistle, 
often accompanied by a cry like crick crick cree, and in the 
breeding- season changing almost into a warble. They are only 
heard to sing in the spring, and their concert, though inclining 
to sadness, is not altogether disagreeable. Their nests are 
built in company, on reeds and bushes, in the neighborhood 
of salt-marshes and ponds. They begin to lay about the 
beginning of April; soon after which the males leave their 
mates, not only with the care of incubation, but with the rear- 
ing of the young, moving about in separate flocks like the 
Cowbirds, without taking any interest in the fate of their 
progeny. 
This species is rarely found north of Virginia. Several instances 
of its occurrence in New England have been reported; but the 
correctness of these reports has been challenged, and Mr. Allen 
omitted the species from his list of Massachusetts birds issued in 
1886. 
PURPLE CRACKLE. 
CROW BLACKBIRD. 
Quiscalus quiscul-a. 
Char. Black, with rich metallic tints of steel blue and purple, the 
female somewhat duller. Length, ii to 13% inches. 
Nest. On the branch of a tree or in a hollow stub ; large and roughly 
made of coarse grass and twigs, and lined with finer grass, sometimes 
cemented with mud. 
Eggs, 4-6 ; extremely variable in shape, color, and size ; ground color 
greenish white to reddish brown, with irregular markings of dark brown ; 
1.25 X 0.90. 
This very common bird is an occasional or constant resident 
in every part of America, from Hudson’s Bay and the northern 
interior to the Creat Antilles, within the tropic. In most parts 
of this wide region they also breed, at least from Nova Scotia to 
Louisiana, and probably farther south. Into the States north 
of Virginia they begin to migrate from the beginning of March 
