170 
OMNIVOROUS BIRDS. 
and exhibiting amidst the broad shadows of their funereal 
plumage, the bright flashing of the vermilion with which 
their wings are so singularly decorated. After whirling a 
little distance, like the Starling, they descend as a torrent, 
and darkening the branches of the trees by their numbers, 
they commence a general concert that may be heard for 
more than two miles. This music seems to be something 
betwixt chattering and warbling ; jingling liquid notes 
like those of the Bobolink with their peculiar kong-quer- 
ree and bob d le , o-bob a lee\ then complaining chirps, 
jars, and sounds like saw-filing, or the motion of a sign- 
board on its rusty hinge, the whole constituting a novel and 
sometimes grand chorus of discord and harmony, in which 
the performers seem in good earnest, and bristle up their 
feathers, as if inclined, at least, to make up in quantity 
what their show of music may lack in quality. 
When their food begins to fail in the fields, they as- 
semble with the Purple Grakles, very familiarly around 
the corn-cribs and in the barn-yards, greedily and dexter- 
ously gleaning up every thing within their reach. In the 
month of March, Mr. Bullock found them very numerous 
and bold near the city of Mexico, where they followed 
the mules to steal a tithe of the barley with which they 
were fed. 
From the beginning of March to April, according to the 
nature of the season, they begin to visit the Northern 
States in scattered parties, flying chiefly in the morning. 
As they wing their way towards the north, they seem to 
relieve their mutual toil by friendly chatter, and being the 
harbingers of approaching spring, their faults are forgot 
in the instant, and we cannot help greeting them as old 
acquaintances in spite of all their predatory propensities. 
Selecting their accustomed resort, they make the low mead- 
ows resound again with their usual notes, particularly 
