THE RED-WINGED OttlOLE. 141 



Description Destructive to game. 



THE RED-WINGED ORIOLE. 



THIS bird is about the size of a starling, with 

 a black bill and legs; but the plumage is of a 

 deep black, except the upper part of the wings, 

 which is a deep red. 



These birds are so numerous in some parts of 

 America, that more than three hundred are fre- 

 quently caught at one draft of a net. They feed 

 on insects, wheat, and maize; and are exceed- 

 ingly destructive to the grain. They seldom 

 attack the maize except just after it is sown, or 

 afterwards on the ear becoming green, when, 

 pecking a hole in the side, the rain is admitted, 

 and the grain spoiled. This they are supposed 

 to do in search of insects. The farmers some- 

 times attempt their destruction, by steeping the 

 maize in a decoction of white hellebore before it 

 is sown; the birds that eat this prepared corn 

 are seized with a vertigo, and fall down. They 

 are so bold and voracious, that the flock may 

 frequently he shot at two or three times before 

 they can be driven off; indeed, it often happens, 

 that during the second loading of the gun their 

 number increases. In America their general ap- 

 pellation is maize-thief. 



We are informed by Catesby, that these birds, 

 in Carolina and Virginia, always breed among 

 the rushes; the points of which they weave so 

 as to form a sort of roof or shed, under whick 



