Perching Birds. 



The Reti-Winged Hang-nest. 



The Meadow Lakk. 



THE HANG-NESTS 



Family 



ICTERIDM. 



The Red-Winged Hang-nkst (AgeLcus plucniceus) is an 

 American bird, of whicii some dozen specimens liave jjeen 

 recorded as British. Like the two following species, it is a mem- 

 ber of the truly American family /cft'nV/if, though generally called 

 the ' Red-Winged Starling.' Whether the birds which have been captured in Great 

 Britain are really wild individuals which have flown across the Atlantic, or whether 

 they have escaped from confinement, it is difficult always to decide, but in any case the 



species can never be considered anything but a 

 very irregular visitor to Britain. Like our own 

 Starlings, the Agelcciis seems to feed its young 

 on insects, of which it devours a vast quantity, 

 but at the same time it does considerable dam- 

 age to corn and rice. The nests are generally 

 placed in swampy localities in bunches of reeds 

 or in small bushes at no great height from the 

 ground. The eggs are bluish green, of a dif- 

 ferent type to those of our Starling, as they 

 are spotted with black, brown, or purple. 



The Rusty Black Hang-nest tScoleco- 

 phagiis caroliniis) is said to have occurred once 

 in Great Britain, and is included in the British 

 List on even slenderer grounds than the fore- 

 going American species, which it much resem- 

 bles in its mode of nidification. The eggs 

 also are blue, spotted with brown or grey. 

 The Rusi V Black Han(.-nest 'i'H''^ Meadow Lark [Sturnella m„gna) has 



(Male and Female). been procured three times in Great Britain. 



