RECENTLY OBSERVED SPECIES. 277 



straight, the ridge flattened toward the base, where it 

 forms a short tapering process on the forehead, the sides 

 rounded, the edges inflexed, the tip a little depressed ; 

 lower mandible with the angle short and rounded, the 

 sides convex, the edges involute, the tip acute. Nos- 

 trils basal, oval, with a small operculum. Feet of ordi- 

 nary length, rather stout ; tarsus compressed ; toes 

 rather large, the first much stronger ; claws long, little 

 arched, compressed, very acute. Plumage soft, blended 

 wings of moderate length, with the outer four quills 

 nearty equal ; tail rather long and rounded. 



Birds of small size, somewhat resembling Starlings in 

 appearance and habits, granivorous, gregarious, and 

 often seriously injurious to growing crops of cereal 

 plants. 



330. AGELAIUS PHOENICEUS. RED-WINGED MARSH- 

 BLACKBIRD. 



Male with the plumage glossy black, the smaller wing- 

 coverts scarlet, their first row yellow, at the tip whitish. 

 Female much smaller, with the upper parts dark-brown ; 

 some of the smaller wing-coverts tinged with red ; wings 

 and tail blackish-brown, the feathers margined with brown- 

 ish-red, the first row of small coverts and secondary coverts 

 narrowly tipped with whitish ; a yellowish-brown band over 

 the eyes ; lower parts longitudinally streaked with dusky 

 and whitish, the fore-neck strongly tinged with dull carmine. 

 Young like the female, but with red on the wing-coverts 

 or throat. 



Male, 9, 14. Female, 7. 



This bird, which is very abundant in North America, 

 and nowhere a regular inhabitant of Europe, has been 

 obtained in two instances in England. The Rev. Richard 

 Lubbock informs us in Vol. I. of the Zoologist, that a male, 

 said to have been accompanied by another, was shot near 

 Rollesby Broad, Yarmouth, and came into the possession 

 of J. H. Gurney, Esq., in a fresh state, in June 1842. Mr. 

 Yarrell, who has figured and described the individual, says, 

 "he has been favoured with the loan of another example 

 shot among the reeds at Shepherd's Bush, a swampy situa- 

 tion about three miles west of London, on the Uxbridge 

 Road." 



