RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 89 



34. RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 



Agelaius phceniceus 



Upon no day has more than a single Red- 

 winged Blackbird been recorded within the 

 Garden; but usually there have been sev- 

 eral successive visits of a bird during each 

 season. The earliest appearances of the 

 species have been on March 26, 1907, and 

 on March 30, 1908. There have been but 

 five April records. Most of the visits have 

 been in May, and all, excepting in one in- 

 stance, have been made by a male bird 

 which has flown in, it may be, from the Fens, 

 and, after taking a lofty perch upon one of 

 the trees standing by the pond, has sung 

 freely for a brief time and then retired 

 again. I have not found a bird remaining 

 during any considerable portion of a day or 

 even while I completed my morning round. 

 It may be, therefore, that these May ap- 

 pearances of a Red-wing are commonly 

 morning excursions from a chosen neigh- 

 boring haunt ; for sometimes upon four or 

 five mornings in succession such brief visits 



