466 



Ercagurp of Natural 



lines and dashes of black. It is not un- 

 common to find several nests in the same 

 thicket, within a few feet of each other. 



"During the time the female is sitting, 

 and still more particularly after the young 

 are hatched, the male, like most other birds 

 that build in low situations, exhibits the 

 most violent symptoms of apprehension and 

 alarm on the approacli of any person to its 

 near neighbourhood. Like the lapwing of 

 Europe, he flies to meet the intruder, hovers 

 at a short height over-head, uttering loud 

 notes of distress : and, while in this situa- 

 tion, displays to great advantage the rich 

 glowing scarlet of his wings, heightened by 

 I the jetty black of his general plumage. As 

 I the danger increases, his cries become more 

 shrill and incessant, and his motions rapid 

 and restless ; the whole meadow is alarmed, 

 and a collected crowd of his fellows hover 

 around, and mingle their notes of alarm and 

 agitation with his. When the young are 

 taken away, or destroyed, he continues for 

 several days near the place, restless and de- 

 jected, and generally recommences building 

 soon after, in the same meadow. Towards the 

 beginning or middle of August, the young 

 birds begin to fly in flocks, and at that age 

 nearly resemble the female, with the excep- 

 tion of some reddish or orange, that marks 

 the shoulders of the males, and which in- 

 creases in space and brilliancy as winter 

 approaches. It has been frequently re- 

 marked, that, at this time, the young birds 

 chiefly associate by themselves, there being 

 sometimes not more than two or three old 

 males observed in a flock of many thousands. 

 These, from the superior blackness and rich 

 red of their plumage, are very conspicuous. 



' Before the beginning of September, these 

 flocks have become numerous and formi- 

 dable ; and the young ears of maize, or 

 Indian corn, being then in their soft, succu- 

 lent, milky state, present a tem 

 cannot be resisted. 



rous and daily flocks from all parts of 

 interior, they pour down on the low countries 

 in prodigious multitudes. Here they are 

 seen, like vast clouds, wheeling and driving j 

 over the meadows and devoted corn fields, ' 

 darkening the air with their numbers. Then 

 commences the work of destruction on the 

 corn, the husks of which, though composed 

 of numerous envelopments of closely wrapt 

 leaves, are soon completely or partially torn 

 off; while from all quarters myriads con- 

 tinue to pour down like a tempest, blacken- 

 ing half an acre at a time ; and, if not dis- 

 turbed, repeat their depredations till little 

 remains but the cob and the shrivelled skins 

 of the grain ; what little is left of the tender 

 ear, being exposed to the rains and weather, 

 is generally much injured. All the attacks 

 and havoc made at this time among them 

 with the gun, and by the hawks, several 

 species of which are their constant attend- 

 ants, has little effect on the remainder. 

 When the hawks make a sweep among them, 

 they suddenly open on all sides, but rarely 

 in time to disappoint them of their victims ; 

 and, though repeatedly fired at, with mortal 

 effect, they only remove from one field to an 

 adjoining "one, or to another quarter of the 



r men in uieir son, succu- 

 present a temptation that 

 1. Reinforced by nume- 

 >cks from all parts of the 



same enclosure. From dawn to nearly sun- 

 set, this open and daring devastation is car- 

 ried on, under the eye of the proprietor ; 

 and a farmer, who has any considerable 

 extent of corn, would require half-a-dozen 

 men at least, with guns, to guard it ; and 

 even then, all their vigilance and activity 

 would not prevent a good tithe of it from 

 becoming the prey of the blackbirds. The 

 Indians, who usually plant their corn in 

 one general field, keep the whole young boys 

 of the village all day patrolling round and 

 among it ; and each being furnished with 

 bow and arrows, with which they are very 

 expert, they generally contrive to destroy 

 great numbers of them. 



" It must, however, be observed, that this 

 scene of pillage is principally carried on in 

 the low countries, not far from the sea-coast, 

 or near the extensive flats that border our 

 large rivers ; and is also chiefly confined to 

 the months of August and September. After 

 this period, the corn having acquired its 

 hard shelly coat, and the seeds of the reeds 

 or wild oats, with a profusion of other plants, 

 that abound along the river shores, being 

 now ripe, and in great abundance, they 

 present a new and more extensive field for 

 these marauding multitudes. The reeds also 

 supply them with convenient roosting places, 

 being often in almost unapproachable mo- 

 rasses ; and thither they repair every even- 

 ing from all quarters of the country. In 

 some places, however, when the reeds become 

 dry, advantage is taken of this circumstance, 

 to destroy these birds, by a party secretly 

 approaching the place, under cover of a dark 

 night, setting fire to the reeds in several 

 places at once, which, being soon enveloped 

 in one general flame, the uproar among the 

 blackbirds becomes universal ; and, by the 

 light of the conflagration, they are shot 

 down in vast numbers while hovering and 

 screaming over the place. Sometimes straw 

 is used for the same purpose, being previously 

 strewed near^Jhe reeds and alder bushes, 

 where they are known to roost, which being 

 instantly set on fire, the consternation and 

 havoc is prodigious ; and the party return 

 by day to pick up the slaughtered game. 

 About the first of November, they begin to 

 move off towards the south ; though, near 

 the sea coast, in the states of New Jersey 

 and Delaware, they continue long after that 

 period. 



" Such are the general manners and cha- 

 racter of the Red- winged Starling ; but there 

 remain some facts to be mentioned, no lesa 

 authentic, and well deserving the considera- 

 tion of its enemies, more especially, of those 

 whose detestation of this species would stop 

 at nothing short of total extirpation. 



"It has been already stated, that they 

 arrive in Pennsylvania late in March. Their 

 general food at this season, as well as during 

 the early part of summer (for the crows and 

 purple grakles are the principal pests in 

 planting time), consists of grub-worms, ca- 

 terpillars, and various other larva;, the 

 silent, but deadly enemies of all vegetation, 

 and whose secret and insidious attacks are 

 more to be dreaded by the husbandman than 

 the combined forces of the whole feathered 



