r hop, like most birds, with both feet
together, but move one after the other, just as we do.

"The Redwings are sociable birds, nesting in small colonies, and when
once settled they never seem to stray far from home. The nest is a thick
pocket hung either between reeds over the water, or fixed to the upright
stems of a bush, quite near the ground, if the place is very marshy.

"The Redwings place their nests where it would seem very easy to reach
them; but really the bushes are either surrounded by a little creek,
hidden deep in the reeds, or the ground is so marshy that neither man
nor beast can come near. That is the one reason why the males fly about
so boldly, showing their glossy uniforms with the red and gold epaulets.
When we try to visit that group of alders, where the colony lives, you
will see for yourselves how nicely it is protected.

"We welcome this Blackbird in the spring, because his is one of the
earliest bird-notes. In autumn, when he leaves the marsh and brings his
flock to the grain-fields, we do not like him quite so well; but the
Wise Men say that even then he is a good fairy in disguise, eating
cutworms, army-worms, and other injurious kinds; even when stealing a
bit of green corn, they think he clears away the worms that bore under
the husks."

[Illustration: Red-winged Blackbird.]

The Red-winged Blackbird

Length nine and a half inches.

Male: glossy black, except the scarlet shoulders, edged with buff.
Female: mixed rusty black and buff, with dull reddish-orange
shoulders--not conspicuous.

A Citizen of North America in general.

A member of the guilds of Ground Gleaners and Tree Trappers.

THE PURPLE GRACKLE

(THE CROW BLACKBIRD. RUSTY HINGE)

"What a noise those Blackbirds are making!" said Nat.

"That's nothing to the way they do early in the spring, or in autumn,
after they are through nesting," said Rap. "You should hear them. They
come to a big chestnut across the road from our house, more than a
hundred of them at once, and they creak and crackle and squeak till all
of a sudden down they go on the ground, and walk about awhile to feed."

[Illustration: Purple Grackle]

"Yes," said the Doctor, "I call them Rusty Hinges, for their voices
sound like the creaking of a door that needs oiling on the hinges. But
in spite of this they try to sing to their mates in spring, and very
funny is the sight and sound of their devotion. To judge only by their
notes, they should b