244 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



AGELAIUS PHCENICEUS (Linn^us). 



RED- WINGED STAELING. 



There is no record of the occurrence of this American 

 StarHng, in a wild state, in England, until the 2nd of 

 June, 1843, when a specimen now in the possession of 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney, and purchased by him in the flesh, 

 was shot near Barton broad,^ The figure in Yarrell's 

 " British Birds" was taken from this bird, which is thus 

 described by Mr. Gurney in the " Zoologist" (p. 317), " a 

 male, in the plumage of the second year, and appa- 

 rently approaching the period of another moult. It was 

 in good condition ; its stomach filled with the remains 

 of coleopterous insects, and its plumage free from any 

 marks of having been kept in confinement." It was 

 also said to have been in company with another bird of 

 the same kind, and the locality in which it was found 

 is exactly in accordance with the habits of this species, 

 which, as remarked by Wilson, is called in America the 

 marsh blackbird or swamp bird. A second example is 

 recorded by Yarrell to have been killed "amongst the 

 reeds at Shepherd's Bush, a swamj)y situation, about 

 three miles west of London," in the autumn of 1844 ; 

 and very recently a notice appeared in the ^' Zoologist" 

 (p. 8951) of anothe? having been shot on the 25th of 

 December, 1863, at Sidlesham, Sussex. This bird was 

 purchased in the flesh by Mr. W. Jefiery, jun., of 

 Eatham, Chichester, who described it as in good con- 

 dition, and showing no signs of having been in con- 

 finement. It had some round black seeds in the 

 gizzard, and was killed out of a hedgerow. 



* Not at Rollesby, as erroneously stated by Yarrell in quoting 

 a oommunication from the Rev. R. Lubbock. 



