Bird Neighbors Part 7

Length -- 12 to 13 inches. About one-fourth as large again as the robin.

Male -- Iridescent black, in which metallic violet, blue, copper, and green tints predominate. The plumage of this grackle has iridescent bars. Iris of eye bright yellow and conspicuous.

Tail longer than wings.

Female -- Less brilliant black than male, and smaller.

Range -- Gulf of Mexico to 57th parallel north lat.i.tude.

Migrations -- Permanent resident in Southern States. Few are permanent throughout range. Migrates in immense flocks in March and September.

This "refined crow" (which is really no crow at all except in appearance) has scarcely more friends than a thief is ent.i.tled to; for, although in many sections of the country it has given up its old habit of stealing Indian corn and subst.i.tuted ravages upon the gra.s.shoppers instead, it still indulges a crow-like instinct for pillaging nests and eating young birds.

Travelling in immense flocks of its own kind, a gregarious bird of the first order, it nevertheless is not the social fellow that its cousin, the red-winged blackbird, is. It especially holds aloof from mankind, and mankind reciprocates its suspicion.

The tallest, densest evergreens are not too remote for it to build its home, according to Dr. Abbott, though in other States than New Jersey, where he observed them, an old orchard often contains dozens of nests. One peculiarity of the grackles is that their eggs vary so much in coloring and markings that different sets examined in the same groups of trees are often wholly unlike.

The average groundwork, however, is soiled blue or greenish, waved, streaked, or clouded with brown. These are laid in a nest made of miscellaneous sticks and gra.s.ses, rather carefully constructed, and lined with mud. Another peculiarity is the bird's method of steering itself by its tail when it wishes to turn its direction or alight.

Peering at you from the top of a dark pine tree with its staring yellow eye, the grackle is certainly uncanny. There, very early in the spring, you may hear its cracked and wheezy whistle, for, being aware that however much it may look like a crow it belongs to another family, it makes a ridiculous attempt to sing. When a number of grackles lift up their voices at once, some one has aptly likened the result to a "good wheel-barrow chorus!" The grackle's mate alone appreciates his efforts as, standing on tiptoe, with half-spread wings and tail, he pours forth his craven soul to her through a disjointed larynx.

With all their faults, and they are numerous, let it be recorded of both crows and grackles that they are as devoted lovers as turtle-doves. Lowell characterizes them in these four lines:

"Fust come the black birds, clatt'rin' in tall trees, And settlin' things in windy Congresses; Queer politicians, though, for I'll be skinned If all on 'em don't head against the wind."

The Bronzed Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula aeneus) differs from the preceding chiefly in the more brownish bronze tint of its plumage and its lack of iridescent bars. Its range is more westerly, and in the southwest it is particularly common; but as a summer resident it finds its way to New England in large numbers. The call-note is louder and more metallic than the purple grackle's. In nearly all respects the habits of these two birds are identical.

RUSTY BLACKBIRD (Scolecophagus carolinus) Blackbird family

Called also: THRUSH BLACKBIRD; RUSTY GRACKLE; RUSTY ORIOLE; RUSTY CROW; BLACKBIRD

Length -- 9 to 9.55 inches. A trifle smaller than the robin.

Male -- In full plumage, glossy black with metallic reflections, intermixed with rusty brown that becomes more p.r.o.nounced as the season advances. Pale straw-colored eyes.

Female -- Duller plumage and more rusty, inclining to gray. Light line over eye. Smaller than male.

Range -- North America, from Newfoundland to Gulf of Mexico and westward to the Plains.

Migrations -- April. November. A few winter north.

A more sociable bird than the grackle, though it travel in smaller flocks, the rusty blackbird condescends to mingle freely with other feathered friends in marshes and by brooksides. You can identify it by its rusty feathers and pale yellow eye, and easily distinguish the rusty-gray female from the female redwing that is conspicuously streaked.

In April flocks of these birds may frequently be seen along sluggish, secluded streams in the woods, feeding upon the seeds of various water or brookside plants, and probably upon insects also. At such times they often indulge in a curious spluttering, squeaking, musical concert that one listens to with pleasure. The breeding range is mostly north of the United States. But little seems to be known of the birds' habits in their northern home.

Why it should ever have been called a thrush blackbird is one of those inscrutable mysteries peculiar to the naming of birds which are so frequently called precisely what they are not. In spite of the compliment implied in a.s.sociating the name of one of our finest songsters with it, the rusty blackbird has a clucking call as unmusical as it is infrequent, and only very rarely in the spring does it pipe a note that even suggests the sweetness of the redwing's.

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

(Agelaius Phamiceus) Blackbird family

Called also. SWAMP BLACKBIRD; RED-WINGED ORIOLE; RED-WINGED STARLING

Length -- Exceptionally variable--7.50 to 9.80 inches. Usually about an inch smaller than the robin.

Male -- Coal-black. Shoulders scarlet, edged with yellow.

Female -- Feathers finely and inconspicuously speckled with brown, rusty black, whitish, and orange. Upper wing-coverts black, tipped with white, or rufous and sometimes spotted with black and red.

Range -- North America. Breeds from Texas to Columbia River, and throughout the United States. Commonly found from Mexico to 57th degree north lat.i.tude.

Migrations -- March. October. Common summer resident.

In oozy pastures where a brook lazily finds its way through the farm is the ideal pleasure ground of this "bird of society." His notes, "h'-wa-ker-ee" or "con-quer-ee" (on an ascending scale), are liquid in quality, suggesting the sweet, moist, cool retreats where he nests. Liking either heat or cold (he is fond of wintering in Florida, but often retreats to the north while the marshes are still frozen); enjoying not only the company of large flocks of his own kind with whom he travels, but any bird a.s.sociates with whom he can sc.r.a.pe acquaintance; or to sit quietly on a tree-top in the secluded, inaccessible bog while his mate is nesting; satisfied with cut-worms, grubs, and insects, or with fruit and grain for his food -- the blackbird is an impressive and helpful example of how to get the best out of life.

Yet, of all the birds, some farmers complain that the blackbird is the greatest nuisance. They dislike the noisy chatterings when a flock is simply indulging its social instincts. They complain, too, that the blackbirds eat their corn, forgetting that having devoured innumerable grubs from it during the summer, the birds feel justly ent.i.tled to a share of the profits. Though occasionally guilty of eating the farmer's corn and oats and rice, yet it has been found that nearly seven-eighths of the redwing's food is made up of weed-seeds or of insects injurious to agriculture. This bird builds its nest in low bushes on the margin of ponds or low in the bog gra.s.s of marshes. From three to five pale-blue eggs, curiously streaked, spotted, and scrawled with black or purple, const.i.tute a brood. Nursery duties are soon finished, for in July the young birds are ready to gather in flocks with their elders.

"The blackbirds make the maples ring With social cheer and jubilee; The red-wing flutes his '0-ka-lee!'"

--Emerson.

PURPLE MARTIN (Progne subis) Swallow family

Length -- 7 to 8 inches. Two or three inches smaller than the robin.

Male -- Rich glossy black with bluish and purple reflections; duller black on wings and tail. Wings rather longer than the tail, which is forked.

Female -- More brownish and mottled; grayish below.

Range -- Peculiar to America. Penetrates from Arctic Circle to South America.

Migrations -- Late April. Early September. Summer resident.

In old-fas.h.i.+oned gardens, set on a pole over which honeysuckle and roses climbed from a bed where China pinks, phlox, sweet Williams, and hollyhocks crowded each other below, martin boxes used always to be seen with a pair of these large, beautiful swallows circling overhead. Bur now, alas! the boxes, where set up at all, are quickly monopolized by the English sparrow, a bird that the martin, courageous as a kingbird in attacking crows and hawks, tolerates as a neighbor only when it must.

Bradford Torrey tells of seeing quant.i.ties of long-necked squashes dangling from poles about the negro cabins all through the South. One day he asked an old colored man what these squashes were for.

"Why, deh is martins' boxes," said Uncle Remus. "No danger of hawks carryin'

off de chickens so long as de martins am around."

The Indians, too, have always had a special liking for this bird. They often lined a hollowed-out gourd with bits of bark and fastened it in the crotch of their tent poles to invite its friends.h.i.+p. The Mohegan Indians have called it "the bird that never rests"--a name better suited to the tireless barn swallow, Dr. Abbott thinks.

Wasps, beetles, and all manner of injurious garden insects const.i.tute its diet -- another reason for its universal popularity. It is simple enough to distinguish the martins from the other swallows by their larger size and iridescent dark coat, not to mention their song, which is very soft and sweet, like musical laughter, rippling up through the throat.

COWBIRD (Molothrus ater) Blackbird family

Called also: BROWN-HEADED ORIOLE; COW-PEN BIRD; COW BLACKBIRD; COW BUNTING; [BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, AOU 1998]

Length -- 7 to 8 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin.

Male -- Iridescent black, with head, neck, and breast glistening brown. Bill dark brown, feet brownish.

Female -- Dull grayish-brown above, a shade lighter below, and streaked with paler shades of brown.

Range -- United States, from coast to coast. North into British America, south into Mexico.

Migrations -- March. November. Common summer resident.

The cowbird takes its name from its habit of walking about among the cattle in the pasture, picking up the small insects which the cattle disturb in their grazing. The bird may often be seen within a foot or two of the nose of a cow or heifer, walking briskly about like a miniature hen, intently watching for its insect prey.

Its marital and domestic character is thoroughly bad. Polygamous and utterly irresponsible for its offspring, this bird forms a striking contrast to other feathered neighbors, and indeed is almost an anomaly in the animal kingdom. In the breeding season an unnatural mother may be seen skulking about in the trees and shrubbery, seeking for nests in which to place a surrept.i.tious egg, never imposing it upon a bird of its size, but selecting in a cowardly way a small nest, as that of the vireos or warblers or chipping sparrows, and there leaving the hatching and care of its young to the tender mercies of some already burdened little mother. It has been seen to remove an egg from the nest of the red-eyed vireo in order to place one of its own in its place. Not finding a convenient nest, it will even drop its eggs on the ground, trusting them to merciless fate, or, still worse, devouring them. The eggs are nearly an inch long, white speckled with brown or gray.

Cowbirds are gregarious. The ungrateful young birds, as soon as they are able to go roaming, leave their foster-parents and join the flock of their own kind. In keeping with its unclean habits and unholy life and character, the cowbird's ordinary note is a gurgling, rasping whistle, followed by a few sharp notes.

STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris)

[Called also: EUROPEAN STARLING, AOU 1998]