THB RED-WINGED BLACKBIED. 59 



the fields around me with a noise like thunder; while the 

 glittering of innumerable wings of the brightest vermillioD 

 amid the black cloud they formed, produced on these occa- 

 Bions a very striking and splendid effect. Then, descending 

 like a torrent, and covering the branches of some detached 

 grove, or clump of trees, the whole congregated multitude com- 

 menced one general concert or chorus, that I have plainly dis- 

 tinguished at the distance of more than two miles, and, when 

 listened to at the intermediate space of about a quarter of a 

 mUe, with a slight breeze of wind to swell and soften the 

 flow of its cadences, was to me grand, and even sublime. 



The whole season of winter, that, with most birds, is 

 passed in struggling to sustain life in silent melancholy, is, 

 with the Red-wings, one continued carnival. The profuse 

 gleanings of the old rice, corn, and buckwheat-fields, supply 

 them with abundant food, at once ready and nutritious ; and 

 the intermediate time is spent either in aerial manoeuvres, 

 or in grand vocal performances, as if soHcitous to supply 

 the absence of aU the tuneful summer tribes, and to cheer 

 the dejected face of nature with their whole combined 

 powers of harmony. 



From the same excellent authority we gather the follow- 

 ing particulars of the Troopial's ravages in the corn-fields :— 

 Before the beginning of September, the flocks have become 

 numerous and formidable 3 and the young ears of maize, 

 or Indian corn, being then in their soft, succulent, milky, 

 itate, present a temptation that caunot be resisted. Rein- 



