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feature. 465 



feathers are black, and frequently the black 

 on the back is akirted with orange, and the 

 tail tipped with the same colour. Three 

 years, I have reason to believe, are necessary 

 to fix the full tint of the plumage, and then 

 the male bird appears as already described. 

 The chief difference between the male and 

 female Baltimore Oriole is the superior 

 brightness of the orange colour of the former 

 to that of the latter. The black on the 

 head, upper part of the back and throat of 

 the female, is intermixed with dull orange ; 

 whereas, in the male, those parts are of a 

 deep shining black ; the tail of the female 

 also wants the greater part of the black, and 

 the whole lower parts are of a much duskier 

 orange." 



The RED-WINGED STARLIXO (Agelaius 

 phceniccus} the Sturnus predatorius of 

 Wilson is thus described by that observant 

 and industrious ornithologist: "This no- 

 torious and celebrated corn-thief, the long 

 reputed plunderer and pest of our honest 

 and laborious farmers, now presents himself 

 before us, with his female copartner in 

 iniquity, to receive the character due for 

 their very active and distinguished services. 

 In investigating the nature of these, I shall 

 endeavour to render strict historical justice 

 to this noted pair ; adhering to the honest 

 injunction of the poet, 



Nothing extenuate, 

 Nor set down aught in malice. 



Let the reader divest himself equally of 

 prejudice, and we shall be at no loss to as- 

 certain accurately their true character. 



" The Red-winged Starlings, though ge- 

 nerally migratory in the states north of 

 Maryland, are found during winter in im- 

 mense flocks, sometimes associated with the 

 purple grakles, and often by themselves, 



one continued carnival, in 

 ings of the old rice, corn, 

 fields, supply them with ab 

 once ready and nutritious ; 



(AOEI.AIUS PHONIC a-os.) 



along the -whole lower parts of Virginia, 

 both Carolinas, Georgia, and Louisiana, par- 

 ticularly near the sea coast, and in the vici- 

 nity of large rice and corn fields. In the 

 months of January and February, while 

 passing through the former of these countries, 

 I was frequently entertained with the aerial 

 evolutions of these great bodies of Starlings. 

 Sometimes they appeared driving about like 

 an enormous black cloud carried before the 

 wind, varying its shape every moment. 

 Sometimes suddenly rising from the fields 

 around me with a noise like thunder j while 

 the glittering of innumerable wings of the 

 brightest vermillion amid the black cloud 

 they formed, produced on these occasions 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 

 commenced one general concert or chorus, 

 that I have plainly distinguished at the dis- 

 tance of more than two miles ; and, when 

 listened to at the intermediate space of about 

 a quarter of a mile, 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 j 

 birds, is passed in struggling to sustain life j 

 in silent melancholy, is, with the Red-wings, 

 one continued carnival. The profuse glean- 

 of the old rice, corn, and buckwheat 

 abundant food, at 

 ; and the inter- 

 mediate time is spent either in aerial ma- 

 noeuvres, or in grand vocal performances, as 

 if solicitous to supply the absence of all the 

 tuneful summer tribes, and to cheer the 

 dejected face of nature with their whole 

 combined powers of harmony. 



" About the 20th of March, or earlier, if 

 the season be open, they begin to enter 

 Pennsylvania in numerous, though small 

 parties. These migrating flocks are usually 

 observed from daybreak to eight or nine in 

 the morning, passing to the north, chattering 

 to each other as they fly along ; and, in spite 

 of all our antipathy, their well-known notes 

 and appearance, after the long and dreary 

 solitude of winter, inspire cheerful and 

 pleasing ideas of returning spring, warmth, 

 and verdure. Selecting their old haunts, 



I every meadow is soon enlivened by their 

 presence. They continue in small parties 



i to frequent the low borders of creeks, swamps, 

 and ponds, till about the middle of April, 



| when they separate in pairs to breed ; and, 



i about the last week in April or first in May, 

 begin to construct their nest. The place 

 chosen for this is generally within the pre- 

 cincts of a marsh or swamp, meadow, or 

 other like watery situation, the spot, usu- i 

 ally a thicket of alder bushes, at the height ' 

 of six or seven feet from the ground ; some- ! 

 times in a detached bush, in a meadow of j 

 high grass ; often in a tussock of rushes or i 

 coarse rank grass ; and not unfrequently on i 

 the ground : in all which situations, I have | 

 repeatedly found them. When in a bush, 

 they are generally composed outwardly of 

 wet rushes, picked from the swamp, and 

 long tough grass in large quantity, and well 

 lined with very fine bent. The rushes, 

 forming the exterior, are generally extended 

 to several of the adjoining twigs, round 

 which they are repeatedly and securely 

 twisted ; a precaution absolutely necessary 

 for its preservation, on account of the flex- 

 ible nature of the bushes in which it is 

 placed. The same caution is observed when 

 a tussock is chosen, by fastening the tops 

 together, and intertwining the materials of 

 which the nest is formed with the stalks of 

 rushes around. When placed on the ground, 

 less care and fewer materials being neces- 

 sary, the nest is much simpler and slighter 

 than before. The female Jays five eggs, of 

 a very pale light blue, marked with faint 

 tinges of light purple and long straggling 



