A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Science
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Birds -- North America
Audubon’s observations relative to the Crow Blackbird are chiefly made
with reference to those seen in Louisiana, where this race is probably
the only one found. The only noticeable peculiarity in his account of
these birds is his statement that the Blackbirds of that State nest in
hollow trees, a manner of breeding now known to be also occasional in
the habits of the _purpureus_. The eggs of this form appear to exhibit
apparently even greater variations than do those of the _purpureus_.
One egg, measuring 1.10 inches by .85, has a bright bluish-green
ground, plashed and spotted with deep brown markings. Another has a
dull gray ground, sparingly marked with light brown; the measurement
of this is 1.13 inches by .85. A third has a greenish-white ground, so
profusely spotted with a russet-brown that the ground-color is hardly
perceptible. It is larger and more nearly spherical, measuring 1.16
inches by .90. A fourth is so entirely covered with blotches, dots,
and cloudings of dark cinnamon-brown that the ground can nowhere be
traced.
Mr. Gideon Lincecum, of Long Point, Texas, writes, in regard to this
species, that, in his neighborhood, they nest in rookeries, often on a
large live oak. They build their nests on the top of large limbs. In
favorable situations four or five nests can be looked into at once.
They are at this time full of song, though never very melodious. The
people of Texas shoot them, believing them to be injurious to their
crops; but instead of being an injury they are an advantage, they
destroy so many worms, grasshoppers, caterpillars, etc. They are
migratory, and very gregarious. They all leave Texas in the winter,
and the same birds return in the spring to the same nesting-places.
They lay five eggs in a nest.
In Southern Illinois, as Mr. Ridgway informs me, these birds are
resident throughout the year, though rather rare during the winter
months. They breed in the greatest abundance, and are very gregarious
in the breeding-season. On a single small island in the Wabash River,
covered with tall willows, Mr. Ridgway found over seventy nests at one
time. These were placed indifferently on horizontal boughs, in forks,
or in excavations,—either natural or made by the large Woodpeckers
(_Hylotomus_),—nests in all these situations being sometimes found in
one tree. They prefer the large elms, cottonwoods, and sycamores of
the river-bottoms as trees for nesting-places, but select rather
thinly wooded situations, as old clearings, etc. In the vicinity of
Calais, according to Mr. Boardman, they nest habitually in hollow
stubs in marshy borders of brooks or ponds.
Var. aglæus, BAIRD.
FLORIDA GRAKLE.
_Quiscalus baritus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 556, pl. xxxii (not
of _Linn._). _Quiscalus aglæus_, BAIRD, Am. Jour. Sci. 1866,
84.—CASSIN, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 44.—RIDGWAY, Pr. A. N. S.
1869, 135. _Q. purpureus_, ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 291.
[Illustration: Var. _aglæus_.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account