98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



In structure those found upon bushes are finer and more com- 

 pact. On the exterior are observed occasional patches of mud. 

 While those built upon the small mounds in swampy situations are 

 surrounded by tall overarching grasses, and have in consequence 

 a looseness of arrangement which in general 'will scarcely bear 

 manipulation. 



In the selection of a localit^^ there is manifest an evidence of 

 design. High grounds are seldom chosen for nidification, for the 

 obvious reason that the birds are not so apt to meet )vith such a 

 ready and full supply of the various species of insects which pander 

 to their appetites and those of their 3- oung as in the former situa- 

 tions. The insects which afford them a living in such localities, are 

 the aquatic larvse of ephemerids, dragonflies, and mosquitoes which 

 are found in the small shallow pools so abundant therein ; together 

 with mature forms of the same a variety which the most fastidi- 

 ous bon vivani among the aves cannot fail to appreciate. 



It has been affirmed that the red wings are destructive to far- 

 mers' crops, but as far as the writer's experience extends, the 

 damage which they do is small in comparison with the good 

 which thej' accomplish. When a cornfield is in close proximity 

 to a meadow, it is probable that a few grains may be exhumed, or 

 a few tender shoots uprooted, in early spring, but I am certain that 

 the birds during the breeding season are so strongly attached to 

 the meadows that the}' are reluctant to leave them. In the fall 

 of the 3'ear they may visit the cornfields and pluck a few grains 

 from the standing shocks, but in view of the manifold advantages 

 gained by the myriads of insects destroj^ed, we should not grudge 

 them a mere pittance of corn, since, at this season of the 3'ear, 

 they are doubtless productive of immense good in the destruction 

 of various coleopterous and lepidopterous larvae. 



Stumella magna, Swainson. 



This beautiful species, though quite common in this latitude 

 during the breeding season, according to the writer's observations 

 makes its appearance from the first to the fifteenth of April. It 

 is not gregarious in early spring like the purple grakle, but ar- 

 rives from the south already paired for the essential duties of 

 nidification and incubation. It does not commence building ope- 

 rations, however, earlier than the last of April or the begin)iing of 

 May; the interval of time being enii)loyed, judging from the 

 manoeuvres of the birds, in the selection of a desirable and suit- 



