SoolecovOiaffus oar o 1 tnus . 
Concord, Mass. 
18S6. A flock of 12 to 15 about equally divided as to sexes 
Apr. 17. feeding on the marshy shore which two days ago was covered 
with water. Gait a walls, quicker and lighter than that of the 
Crow Blackbird, firmer and more continuous than the Red-wings. 
Tail carried slightly raised, the tips of the wings almost 
s . 
invariably kept below it. Singularly graceful birds. Pine 
fellows the males with black coats glistening in. the sun, the 
females neat and prim ’with their gray dresses, all using their 
bills deftly and industriously, turning over or fl Inking; to 
one side wet mud, sodden leaves or masses of old meadow grass 
and then stirring up the fresh mud beneath, sometimes probing 
it or thrusting the bill down into the base of a tussock, 
bringing up at every other thrust a long white larva of some 
kind; males rising into alders to jingle every little while. 
Sometimes they sang on the ground. Hone of the females sang 
or uttered aught save the rather throaty cluck . 
/S7 
