220 
RUSTY GRAKLE. 
I 
November, when they move off to the south. On the twelfth of 
January I overtook great numbers of these birds in the woods 
near Petersburgh, Virginia, and continued to see occasional 
parties of them almost every day as I advanced southerly, par- 
ticularly in South Carolina, around the rice plantations, where 
they were numerous; feeding about the hog-pens, and wherev- 
er Indian corn was to be procured. They also extend to a con- 
siderable distance westward. On the fifth of March, being on 
the banks of the Ohio, a few miles below the mouth of the Ken- 
tucky river, in the midst of a heavy snow-storm, a flock of these 
birds alighted near the door of the cabin where I had taken shel- 
ter, several of which I shot, and found their stomachs, as usual, 
crammed with Indian corn. Early in April they pass hastily 
through Pennsylvania, on their return to the north to breed. 
From the accounts of persons who have resided near Hud- 
son’s Bay, it appears, that these birds arrive there in the begin- 
ning of June, as soon as the ground is thawed sufficiently for 
them to procure their food, which is said to be worms and mag- 
gots; sing with a fine note till the time of incubation, when 
they have only a chucking noise, till the young take their flight: 
at which time they resume their song. They build their nests 
in trees; about eight feet from the ground, forming them with 
moss and grass, and lay five eggs of a dark colour, spotted with 
black. It is added, they gather in great flocks, and retire south- 
erly in September.* 
The male of this species, when in perfect plumage, is nine 
inches in length, and fourteen in extent; at a small distance ap- 
pears wholly black; but on a near examination is of a glossy 
dark green ; the irides of the eye are silvery, as in those of the 
Purple Grakle; the bill is black, nearly of the same form with 
that of the last mentioned species; the lower mandible a little 
rounded, with the edges turned inward, and the upper one fur- 
nished with a sharp bony process on the inside, exactly like that 
of the purple species. The tongue is slender, and lacerated at 
Arct. Zool. p. 259. 
