With all their faults, and they are numerous, let it be recorded of both crows and grackles that they are as devoted lovers as turtle-doves. Lowell characterizes them in these four lines:
"Fust come the black birds, clatt'rin' in tall trees, And settlin' things in windy Congresses;Queer politicians, though, for I'll be skinned If all on 'em don't head against the wind."The Bronzed Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula aeneus) differs from the preceding chiefly in the more brownish bronze tint of its plumage and its lack of iridescent bars. Its range is more westerly, and in the southwest it is particularly common; but as a summer resident it finds its way to New England in large numbers. The call-note is louder and more metallic than the purple grackle's. In nearly all respects the habits of these two birds are identical.
RUSTY BLACKBIRD (Scolecophagus carolinus) Blackbird family Called also: THRUSH BLACKBIRD; RUSTY GRACKLE; RUSTY ORIOLE; RUSTYCROW; BLACKBIRD
Length -- 9 to 9.55 inches. A trifle smaller than the robin.
Male -- In full plumage, glossy black with metallic reflections, intermixed with rusty brown that becomes more pronounced as the season advances. Pale straw-colored eyes.
Female -- Duller plumage and more rusty, inclining to gray. Light line over eye. Smaller than male.
Range -- North America, from Newfoundland to Gulf of Mexico and westward to the Plains.
Migrations -- April. November. A few winter north.
A more sociable bird than the grackle, though it travel in smaller flocks, the rusty blackbird condescends to mingle freely with other feathered friends in marshes and by brooksides. You can identify it by its rusty feathers and pale yellow eye, and easily distinguish the rusty-gray female from the female redwing that is conspicuously streaked.
In April flocks of these birds may frequently be seen along sluggish, secluded streams in the woods, feeding upon the seeds of various water or brookside plants, and probably upon insects also. At such times they often indulge in a curious spluttering, squeaking, musical concert that one listens to with pleasure. The breeding range is mostly north of the United States. But little seems to be known of the birds' habits in their northern home.
Why it should ever have been called a thrush blackbird is one of those inscrutable mysteries peculiar to the naming of birds which are so frequently called precisely what they are not. In spite of the compliment implied in associating the name of one of our finest songsters with it, the rusty blackbird has a clucking call as unmusical as it is infrequent, and only very rarely in the spring does it pipe a note that even suggests the sweetness of the redwing's.
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD
(Agelaius Phamiceus) Blackbird family Called also. SWAMP BLACKBIRD; RED-WINGED ORIOLE; RED-WINGEDSTARLING
Length -- Exceptionally variable--7.50 to 9.80 inches. Usually about an inch smaller than the robin.
Male -- Coal-black. Shoulders scarlet, edged with yellow.
Female -- Feathers finely and inconspicuously speckled with brown, rusty black, whitish, and orange. Upper wing-coverts black, tipped with white, or rufous and sometimes spotted with black and red.
Range -- North America. Breeds from Texas to Columbia River, and throughout the United States. Commonly found from Mexico to 57th degree north latitude.
Migrations -- March. October. Common summer resident.
In oozy pastures where a brook lazily finds its way through the farm is the ideal pleasure ground of this "bird of society." His notes, "h'-wa-ker-ee" or "con-quer-ee" (on an ascending scale), are liquid in quality, suggesting the sweet, moist, cool retreats where he nests. Liking either heat or cold (he is fond of wintering in Florida, but often retreats to the north while the marshes are still frozen); enjoying not only the company of large flocks of his own kind with whom he travels, but any bird associates with whom he can scrape acquaintance; or to sit quietly on a tree-top in the secluded, inaccessible bog while his mate is nesting; satisfied with cut-worms, grubs, and insects, or with fruit and grain for his food -- the blackbird is an impressive and helpful example of how to get the best out of life.
Yet, of all the birds, some farmers complain that the blackbird is the greatest nuisance. They dislike the noisy chatterings when a flock is simply indulging its social instincts. They complain, too, that the blackbirds eat their corn, forgetting that having devoured innumerable grubs from it during the summer, the birds feel justly entitled to a share of the profits. Though occasionally guilty of eating the farmer's corn and oats and rice, yet it has been found that nearly seven-eighths of the redwing's food is made up of weed-seeds or of insects injurious to agriculture. This bird builds its nest in low bushes on the margin of ponds or low in the bog grass of marshes. From three to five pale-blue eggs, curiously streaked, spotted, and scrawled with black or purple, constitute a brood. Nursery duties are soon finished, for in July the young birds are ready to gather in flocks with their elders.
"The blackbirds make the maples ring With social cheer and jubilee;The red-wing flutes his '0-ka-lee!'"
--Emerson.
PURPLE MARTIN (Progne subis) Swallow family Length -- 7 to 8 inches. Two or three inches smaller than the robin.
Male -- Rich glossy black with bluish and purple reflections;duller black on wings and tail. Wings rather longer than the tail, which is forked.
Female -- More brownish and mottled; grayish below.
Range -- Peculiar to America. Penetrates from Arctic Circle to South America.
Migrations -- Late April. Early September. Summer resident.
