EASTERN REDWING 139 



redwings mixed with grackles, cowbirds, and starlings feeding in the 

 open fields. Such flocks sometimes contain hundreds or even thou- 

 sands of birds. I have seen flocks that covered as much as an acre or 

 more in a broad expanse of meadow or pasture land, densely spread 

 over the ground like a great black mantle. The flock moves along 

 steadily as it feeds, all moving in the same direction; at intervals 

 those in the rear rise, fly over the main flock, and settle in front of the 

 advancing horde, to resume their feeding; this happens again and 

 again, giving the impression of a vast rolling cloud of black birds. 

 When the edge of the field is reached the whole mass rises in a body, 

 to rest in the treetops for a time, or to swoop down into another field. 



In the air the flight of the redwing is characteristic; it flies with 

 bursts of rapid wingbeats, between which are slight intermittent 

 pauses, producing a somewhat wavy motion. The flocks are in 

 orderly formation, wheeling and turning in unison, but the individual 

 birds in the flock are constantly changing their positions, rising and 

 falling more or less independently. The vast flocks that travel 

 about through the Southern States in fall and winter are most im- 

 pressive. Pearson (1925) writes: "At this time they may be seen in 

 flocks numbering tens of thousands, and they present a marvelous 

 spectacle as they fly with all the precision of perfectly trained soldiers. 

 I have seen fully thirty thousand of them while in full flight suddenly 

 turn to the right or the left or at the same instant swoop downward 

 as if they were all driven by common impulse. They perform many 

 wonderful feats of flight when on the wing. Sometimes a long billow 

 of moving birds will pass across the fields, the ends of the flying 

 regiment alternately sinking and rising, or even appearing to tumble 

 about like a sheet of paper in a high wind." 



Wilson (1832) says: "Sometimes they appeared driving about like 

 an enormous black cloud carried before the wind, varying its shape 

 every moment; sometimes suddenly rising from the fields around me 

 with a noise like thunder; while the glittering of innumerable wings of 

 the brightest vermillion amid the black cloud they formed, produced 

 on these occasions a very striking and splendid effect." 



Redwings are very aggressive in driving away any large bird that 

 approaches their nesting places; crows, hawks, and even ospreys are 

 vigorously attacked and pursued sometimes far beyond the bound- 

 aries of the territories; even the bittern is driven to cover in the marsh. 

 Francis Allen tells me that he once saw a redwing "riding on a crow's 

 back for an appreciable length of time." 



If a man approaches a nesting colony, even within a hundred feet, 

 the male redwing rises from his lookout perch and flies out to meet 

 him with loud cries of alarm or harsh chucks, hovering over his head and 

 threatening to attack him, but seldom actually striking him. Alex- 



