One of the odd things about these birds is their habit of nesting in winter. A Maine hunter was once shooting moose in the middle of January, when he came upon the nest of a crossbill, with the bird sitting. The weather was cold, of course, and there was deep snow on the ground. The nest was in the woods, and made of twigs, with long gray moss outside. It looked so like a bunch of moss that it was hard to see. Other nests have been found in winter also.
Mr. Nehrling says that if one of these birds is caught, the rest of the flock will not leave him. They stay around him, crying and showing their distress in every way, and if one is put alone into a cage, he will die.
XIX
THE BLACKBIRD FAMILY
(Icteridæ)[16]
There are more than one hundred species of the Blackbird Family in America. So we will divide them into four branches: Marsh Blackbirds, Meadow Starlings, Orioles, and Crow Blackbirds.
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD