Many a time, however, he would sit upon the corner of the house roof and perpetrate his joke on the boy in the hammock below, who thought he knew much about birds, but who could not understand why, when he heard so many different voices, there was only a little gray cat-bird within sight.
Gertrude Southwick Kingsland.
THE RUSTY BLACKBIRD OR GRACKLE.
(Scolecophagus carolinus.)
Unlike the other blackbirds and our common orioles the Rusty Blackbird must not be sought in the orchards and fields of our farms and waysides, but in our forests and the heavily wooded banks of mountain streams and lakes. In such places this retiring bird passes the breeding season and raises its family in quiet solitude. It even seems to shun the company of its own kind and, unlike the red-winged blackbird, is seldom seen in large flocks. It is only in the spring that we may observe even small flocks from “whence issues a confused medley of whistles, sweeter and higher-pitched than the best efforts of the redwings.” Captain Charles Bendire says: “The ordinary call note sounds like ‘tehack, tehack,’ several times repeated; another like ‘turnlee, turnlee, turnlee,’ uttered in a clear tone and varied occasionally to ‘trallahee, trallahee.’”
Few birds exhibit a more happy disposition. They seem always to be perfectly satisfied with their surroundings. One writer, quietly watching them, gathered in the trees about him, says that “The wind whistled loudly through the branches above, but these lively fellows began a serenade so joyous and full of gleeful abandon that I lingered long to hear them. In singing they opened the bill widely and the throat swelled with melody. Their notes are rich, varied and energetic. They are almost constantly in motion, chasing each other or flying from perch to perch, singing merrily most of the time.”
The Rusty Blackbird has a wide range. It is more common in the eastern portion of North America from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico northward to the northern limit of the forests. Westward, though constantly decreasing in numbers as the distance increases from the Atlantic coast, it is found as far as the great plains and very rarely on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. It frequents practically the whole forest area of British America from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Mr. E. W. Nelson says: “I found it abundant at the Yukon mouth, where the widely extended areas of bush grown country offered suitable shelter and where it consequently nested in considerable numbers.”
Their nesting range covers the whole of British America, but in the United States it is restricted to a comparatively small area. Its nests have only been reported as occurring in portions of New England and in the wild Adirondack forests. In winter it makes its home in the Middle and Southern States. At this time, from necessity, it is often seen around barn and stock yards, feeding on the grain that has been dropped by the cattle.
During the summer season the Rusty Blackbird depends almost entirely on animal life for its food, eating caterpillars, moths and other insects, worms, snails and spiders, also eating, to a limited extent, wild berries.
The nest of the Rusty Blackbird is large and substantially constructed. It is generally placed in cone-bearing trees and is seldom more than ten feet from the ground. As a rule, trees growing in swampy and rather inaccessible places are selected. The base of the nest “is principally composed of sphagnum moss and earth, forming a firm, hard platform on which the nest proper is built. This is thickly covered on the outside with small tamarack and spruce twigs, mixed with a few blades of grass, pieces of fern and long green moss, especially at the base. The inner cup is thickly and neatly lined with fine bright green grass.” These blackbirds are not quarrelsome and are devoted parents, both sexes assisting in the care of the young, which are able to leave the nest in about fifteen or sixteen days. Our illustration shows the fall and winter plumage of the male. During the breeding season the plumage is a glossy bluish black.
