38 RED-WINGED STARLING. 



RED-WINGED STARLING. 



RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. RED-WINGED MAIZE-BIRD. 

 MARSH BLACKBIRD. SWAMP BLACKBIRD. CORN THIEF. 



PLATE XCVI. FIGURE II. 



Sturnus pradatoritis , LUBBOCK. WILSON. 



Icimis phanicurus, BUONAPARTE. 



ABOUT the middle of April the birds pair, and 

 nidification commences the last week in April, or 

 the beginning of May, or even later, according to the 

 latitude in which they happen to be. 



The nest is placed variously in a bush or tree, a 

 few feet from the ground, or in a tussock of rushes 

 or tuft of grass, or even, and not unfrequently, on the 

 ground. It is composed of rushes and long tough 

 grass, and lined with finer portions of the latter; the 

 rushes are interlaced among the surrounding twigs, if in 

 a tree, or among the rushes, if on the ground, in which 

 latter case the whole structure is less elaborate than 

 in the former. Several nests are often built in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of each other. 



The eggs, about five in number, are of a pale 

 bluish -white colour, encircled at the larger end with 

 spots and streaks of dark reddish brown, with a few 



