concerning the Birds of Massachusetts. 99 
its migrations to the tropical parts of the continent in winter 
(none remaining in the United States through that season), it 
should be unknown, as yet, in Pennsylvania. It is therefore very 
desirable to know with certainty the southern limits of the sum- 
mer migrations of this species, no doubt confounded with the 
preceding. It is also yet a matter of inquiry whether the Marsh- 
Wren is found in Maine and New Hampshire, and in Nova 
Scotia. On comparing our bird with the Sylvia platensis (also a 
Troglodytes), figured by Buffon in the Planches Enluminées, it is 
difficult to point out any specific difference betwixt these inhabi- 
tants of two different hemispheres. 
Icterus pheniceus, (Red-Winged Blackbird.) According to 
Wilson and Bonaparte, the female of this species is only about 
half the cubic bulk of the male. Unable to reconcile this singular 
anomaly with the usual economy of nature, I have been led to 
investigate the subject with a view to some solution, and I am 
now nearly convinced of the existence of éwo species in the 
supposed pair of the Red-Wing. Du Pratz and Latham both 
suspected the existence of two kinds. “Some,” says the latter, 
“have every feather, even the red ones, margined with white, 
many of which I have seen. Some tell me that they are young 
ones; others, that they are a distinct species, which do not keep 
company with the others; and not a few, that they are the Je- 
males ; but what has been shown to me for a Jemale, by an 
intelligent observer, had no red on the wing, yet was margined 
with white like the others. The above want investigation ; and 
it is to be hoped that some future curious observer will take some 
pains to set us right in this matter ;” * since which candid inquiry 
* Latham’s Synopsis, vol. IL. p. 429. 4to. 
