RUSTY GRAKLE. 
331 
tribes of birds, many of which, for several years, are constantly 
varying in the colours of their plumage, and, at different 
seasons, or different ages, assuming new and very different 
appearances. Even the size is by no means a safe criterion, 
the difference in this respect between the male and female of 
the same species (as in the one now before us) being some- 
times very considerable. 
This bird arrives in Pennsylvania, from the north, early 
in October : associates with the Redwings and Cow-pen 
Buntings, frequents corn fields, and places where grasshoppers 
are plenty ,* but Indian corn, at that season, seems to be its 
principal food. It is a very silent bird, having only now and 
then a single note, or chuck . We see them occasionally until 
about the middle of November, when they move off to the 
south. On the 12th 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, particularly in South Carolina, around 
the rice plantations, where they were numerous, feeding about 
the hog pens, and wherever Indian corn was to be procured. 
They also extend to a considerable distance westward. On 
the 5th of March, being on the banks of the Ohio, a few 
miles below the mouth of the Kentucky 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 shelter, several of which 
I shot, and found their stomachs, as usual, crammed with 
Indian corn. Early in April they pass hastily through Penn- 
sylvania, 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 
beginning of June, as soon as the ground is thawed sufficiently 
for them to procure their food, which is said to be worms and 
maggots ; 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. 
