They complain, too, that the blackbirds eat
their corn, forgetting that having devoured innumerable grubs from it during
the summer, the birds feel justly entitled 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 grass of marshes. From
three to five pale-blue eggs, curiously streaked, spotted, and scrawled with
black or purple, constitute 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.
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