ICTEKID^ — THE AMEEICAX OKIOLES. 315 



mounts guard upon some prominent perch near liy, and cheers them 

 with liis song. This soug, while in a measure harsh, has yet a 

 peculiar metallic resonance which renders it not unpleasant ; and 

 "when the songs of many individuals are blended the resulting chorus 

 is decidedly musical. The normal, or usual, song sounds like roii'- 

 cur-ee, but there are many variations from this modulation. When 

 singing, the male bends forward his body, swells liis plumage, and 

 by some peculiar adjustment of the wings brings his scarlet epaulettes 

 into striking prominence ; and when he sallies from Ms perch to 

 make the regular round of inspection over his harem these splendid 

 decorations flash forth with rich brilliancy, no doubt to the admira- 

 tion of the faithful creatures for whom the display is intended. 



The nest of the Eed-wiuged Blackbird is very variously situated, 

 but it is always in or in very close proximity to a swamp or marsh. 

 It is placed either among rank grasses or sedges, rushes, or other 

 marsh plants, or in bushes growing in the water; and on one oc- 

 casion the writer found a colony which had built their nests in "sage 

 bushes" {Artemisia tridentata) growing in and about a shallow alka- 

 line pond, on Antelope Island, in the Great Salt Lake. The most 

 noteworthy departure from the usual situation, however, kuo\vn to 

 the author, was that of a nest built in a small elm tree standing in 

 the middle of a moderately dry meadow, and placed at a height of 

 about fifteen feet from the gi'ound. 



Genus STURNELLA Vieillot. 



SturneUa Vieillot. Analyse. 1816. .31. Type. Alavdx magna Lint!. 



"tiEN. Char. Body thiek.slnut: legs large, toes reaching beyond the tail. Tailshort, 

 even, with narro\v acuminate feathers. Bill slender, elongated; length about three 

 times the height: commissure straight from the basal angle. Culmen flattened basally. 

 extending backwards and parting the frontal feathers; longer than the head, but shorter 

 than tarsus. Nostrils linear, covered by an incumbent membranous scale. Inner lateral 

 toe longer than the outer, but not reaching to basal joint of middle, which is equal to 

 the tarsus. Hind claw nearly twice as long as the middle. Feathers of head stiffened 

 and bristly ; the shafts of those above extended into a black seta. Tertials nearly equal 

 to the primaries. Feathers above all-tj-ansversely banded. Beneath yellow, with a black 

 pectoral crescent." {Hist. X'. Am. £.) 



Two quite , distinct though very similar species of Sturnella are 

 found in Illinois, one of them belonging exclusively to the eastern 

 and the other to the western portions of the United States, but 

 occurring together in the prairie districts of the Mississippi Valley, 

 especially west of the Mississippi Eiver. 



