360 BIRDS—ICTERID A. 
liant plumage of the male. In many households no bird is more familiar 
or welcome; though some arrive earlier, possess more musical voices, or 
are more confiding, none inspire the same emotions as this, when for the 
first time in the season he alights upor the topmost branches of the elm 
in the door-yard, peers curiously into his dilapidated nest which still 
swings from the drooping branch, and whistles for his lagging mate. 
The Misses Jones and Shulze give us a faithful and beautiful illus- 
tration of the nest and eggs of this bird. From their description I take 
the following: : . 
‘The typicai nest is truly pensile, and is suspended from the extreme branches of an 
overhanging limb, where, shaded from the sun by leaves above, it rocks to the gentlest 
breeze. At other times it is fastened to a perpendicular limb of considerable size, where 
the smaller brances put forth. Between these two positions various others are com- 
mon and constantly met with ; no two nests being hung in exactly the same manner. 
The distance from the ground varies from four to seventy feet. 
During the period of nidification, any substance combining the proper length, thick- 
ness and strength is in demand; consequently the materials of construction are almost 
without number, and depend to a great extent upon locality. 
In the woods, long grasses, strips of bark and vegetable fibres of different kinds make 
up the structure ; bui in cities and villages, or in the country, near houses, yarn, wrap- 
ping-twine, horse and cow hairs, rags, paper and such other substances as are ready 
prepared and accessible, are largely useu. The lining is generally of woe vegetable 
down, and fibres. 
The cavity varies in depth from two and three-fourths to six inches; inside diameter 
at the mouth, from two and three-fourths to three and three-fourth inches, increasing. 
from one-half to one inch near the bottom. 
The complement of eggs is from four to six. They measure 1.05 x .70 to 80 x .50; 
average, about .92 x .60. When biown, the ground is white, with, the brightness 
dimmed by the faintest bluish or pinkish tint, and marked with dots, lines, scawls and 
blotches of dark brown or black, usually distributed irregularly over the surface; but 
often thickest about the crown, forming a wreath. 
Sub-family QUISCALIN AX. Crow Blackbirds. 
Bill slightly curved, the cutting edges inflected. “Legs longer than head, fitted for 
walking. 
ri Gunus SCOLECOPHAGUS. Swainson. 
Bill slender, shorter than the head. Wings longer than the nearly even tail. 
ScOLECOPHAGUS FERRUGINEUs (Gm.) Sw. 
Rusty Grakle. 
Quiscalus Jerrugineus, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 162.—REaD, Fam. Visitor, 
ii, 1853, 327; Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 1853, 395. 
Scolecophagus ferrugineus, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep., 1860, 367; Reprint, 1861, 9; Food 
of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 567; Reprint, 1875, 7.—LANGDON, Cat. 
Birds of Cin., 1877, 10; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 176; Re- 
print, 10; Field Fotes, ib., iii, 1880, 125. 
Rusty Blackbira, 
