BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC.: FAMILY ICTERIDÆ
The eight members of the family Icteridae differ widely in appearance and habits. The two Orioles are rarely seen on the ground; when they do come down, they hop. All the other species get their food chiefly on the ground, and these all walk. In four of the eight species black predominates; these species are gregarious, often occurring in very large flocks. The Orchard Oriole is found commonly only as far north as southern Rhode Island and Connecticut. The Rusty Blackbird is only a migrant in most of New York and New England.
CROW BLACKBIRD [COMMON GRACKLE]
BRONZED GRACKLE. Quiscalus quiscula æneus
PURPLE GRACKLE. Quiscalus quiscula
12.00-13.50 in.
Ad. ♂.— Head, neck, and upper breast iridescent purple, violet, or brassy-green in good light (at a distance the whole bird looks black); rest of body black, with metallic reflections; wings and tail bluish, violet, or purplish; tail long, middle pair of feathers much longer than outer pair; eye pale yellow. Ad. ♀.— Similar, but browner and smaller.
Nest, bulky, of dried grasses, etc., in trees. Eggs, greenish, spotted and streaked with black and brown.
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Bronzed Grackle
The Crow Blackbird is a summer resident throughout New York and New England, but in northern New England occurs only locally in low ground near water. It arrives late in February, or early in March, and stays occasionally as late as October. When the Blackbirds first return, they come in flocks, and they breed in communities, preferring the security of evergreen trees for nesting-places. Here they may be seen on the tops of the trees squeaking and whistling like creaking sign-boards. When the male utters his song, he spreads his wings slightly and puffs out his feathers. When the young are in the nest, the female, a little smaller and duller than the male, may be seen walking over lawns or open places in the neighborhood, hunting for grubs or bits of refuse, and then flying to the nests. From all the surrounding country, lines of such foragers converge in the chosen grove in midsummer. After the young are able to fly, the breeding-places are deserted, and either no Grackles are to be seen or else very large flocks are met with, blackening the fields or trees. Sometimes these flocks, or migrants from the north, are seen late in October, and occasionally in November.
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The absence of red on the shoulder distinguishes the Crow Blackbird from the Red-wing, and the long, wedgeshaped tail, conspicuous in flight, from the Rusty Blackbird. This tail is often held keel-shaped, the middle feathers being depressed. On the ground the bird somewhat suggests a Crow; the gait, as in the case of all the blackbirds, is a walk. When Crow Blackbirds fly, their line of flight is level, not undulating, so that the members of a flock do not rise and fall as the other blackbirds do. Like several of the other blackbirds, it often jerks its tail upward when perched.
NOTE.— The Crow Blackbird, in the neighborhood of New York city, is the Purple Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula); about Boston and north ward it is the Bronzed Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula æneus). In the former the colors of the head and neck are not sharply defined from those of the body, as they are in the latter. In Connecticut intermediate races occur. The habits and notes of the two are practically the same.
RUSTY BLACKBIRD. Euphagus carolinus
9.55 in.
Ad. ♂ in spring.— Entire plumage glossy bluish-black; eye pale yellow or white. Ad. ♀ in spring.— Slate-gray; eye as in ♂. Ad. in autumn.— Feathers of head, neck, and back tipped with rustybrown; under parts buffy.
Nest, in trees, bulky. Eggs, bluish-green, olive, or brownish, speckled and spotted with brown.
The Rusty Blackbird (rusty only in the autumn) is a common migrant through New York and New England, from the middle of March to the first week of May, and again from the end of September through October, or in the vicinity of New York city until December. It breeds to some extent in the northern and extreme eastern counties of Maine. The Rusty Blackbird is as fond of wet places as the Red-wing; it is generally found in small flocks near marshes and at the borders of water-courses. Like the Redwing, it visits to some extent the dry hillsides, particularly in the fall.
When seen at a distance, and in flight, it is almost impossible to distinguish between this bird and the Red-wing, unless the split or squeaking whistle of the Rusty is heard. This is its song, corresponding to the congaree of the Redwing; it is heard both in spring and fall. The species also has a chuck practically indistinguishable from that of the Red-wing, and has the same trick of jerking its tail upward when perched. When seen near to, the absence of any mark on the shoulder should distinguish the Rusty; the tail, though slightly rounded, can hardly be confused with the long, extremely rounded tail of the Bronzed Grackle. The surest mark by which the Rusty may be distinguished from the Red-wing, if one can get near enough, is the white eye. The female might be confused with the female Cowbird, but in most cases the latter would not occur in the wet places affected by the former; moreover the Cowbird's bill is shorter. The female Red-wing is heavily streaked. A Rusty Blackbird in autumn might be mistaken for a male Cowbird, but the rusty is much more widely distributed in the former, extending well down the back, and the bill is longer and sharper.
