They are sociable birds and seem to like the company of mankind, for their nests are, from choice, built as near as possible to houses, often being where they can be reached from windows. As they use a great deal of string in the construction of their nests, children often get amusement by placing bright-colored pieces of yarn where the birds will get them, and watch them weave them into their homes.
Song.—A clear, querulous, varied whistle or warble; call, a plaintive whistle.
Nest.—A pensile structure, often hanging eight or ten inches below the supporting rim, and swaying to and fro with every breeze. They lay five or six white eggs, curiously scrawled with blackish brown (.90 × .60).
Range.—N. A. east of the Rockies and breeding north to New Brunswick and Manitoba. Winters in Central America.
RUSTY BLACKBIRD
510. Euphagus carolinus. 9½ inches
Male glossy black, female grayish; both sexes in winter with most of the head and breast feathers tipped with rusty. In the United States we know these birds chiefly as emigrants; but a few of them remain to breed in the Northern parts. Their songs are rather squeaky efforts, but still not unmusical. These birds are found east of the Rockies.
BREWER BLACKBIRD
510. Euphagus cyaneocephalus. 10 inches