RED-WINGED STARLING. 



43 



solitude of winter, inspire cheeiful and pleasing ideas of returning 

 spring, warmth, and verdure. Selecting their old haunts, every 

 meadow is soon enlivened by their presence. They continue, in 

 small parties, to frequent the low borders of creeks, swamps, and 

 ponds, till about the middle of April, when they separate in pairs 

 to breed ; and, about the last week in April, or first in May, begin 

 to construct their nests. The place chosen for this is generally 

 within the precincts of a marsh or swamp, meadow, or other like 

 watery situation — the spot, usually a thicket of alder-bushes, at 

 the height of six or seven feet from the ground ; sometimes in a 

 detached bush, in a meadow of high grass ; often in a tussock 

 of rushes, or coarse rank grass, and not unfrequently on the 

 ground ; in all of 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 

 quantities, and well lined with very fine lint. The rushes, form- 

 ing 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 flexible nature of the bushes in which it is placed. The same 

 caution is observed when a tussock is chosen, by fastening the top 

 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 necessary, the nest is 

 much simpler and slighter than before. The female lays five eggs, 

 of a very pale light-blue, marked with faint tinges of light pur- 

 ple, and long, straggling lines and dashes of black. It is not 

 uncommon 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 approach of any person to its near 

 neighborhood. Like the Lapwing of Europe, he flies to meet the 

 intruder, hovers at a short height overhead, uttering loud notes of 

 distress; and while in this situation, displays to great advantage 

 the rich, glowing scarlet of his wings, heightened by the jetty 

 black of his general plumage. As the danger increases, his cries 

 become more shrill and incessant, and his motions rapid and rest- 

 less ; the whole meadow is alarmed, and a collected crowd of his 

 fellows hover around, and mingle their notes of alarm and agita- 

 tion with his. When the young are taken away or destroyed, he 

 continues for several days near the place, restless and dejected, 

 and generally recommences building soon after, in the same 

 meadow. Toward the beginning or middle of August, the young 

 birds begin to fly in flocks, and at that age nearly resemble the 

 female, with the exception of some reddish or orange that marks 

 the shoulders of the males, and which increases in space and bril- 

 liancy as winter approaches. It has been frequently remarked, 

 that, at this time, the young birds chiefly associate by themselves, 

 there being sometimes not more than two or three old males ob- 

 served 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 formidable, and the young ears of maize, or Indian 

 corn, being then in their soft, succulent, milky state, present a 

 temptation that can not be resisted. Reinforced by numerous 

 and daily flocks from all parts of the interior, they pour down on 

 the low countries in prodigious multitudes. Here they are seen, 

 like vast clouds, wheeling and driving over the meadows and 

 devoted cornfields, 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 

 wrapped leaves, are soon completely or partially torn off; while 

 from all quarters myriads continue to pour down like a tempest, 

 blackening half an acre at a time ; and, if not disturbed, repeat 

 their depredations, till little remains but the cob and the shriveled 

 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 con- 

 stant attendants — have little effect on the remainder. When the 

 Hawks made a swoop 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 

 farm inclosure. From dawn to nearly sunset, this open and dar- 

 ing devastation is carried 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 young 

 boys of the village patrolling all day around 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 prin- 

 cipally 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 conve- 

 nient roosting-places, being often in almost unapproachable mo- 

 rasses ; and thither they repair every evening, 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, and 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 conflagra- 

 tion, 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 the reeds and alder-bushes, 

 where they are known to roost, which being instantly set on fire, 

 the consternation and havoc are prodigious ; and the party return 

 by day to pick up the slaughtered game. About the first of No- 

 vember, they begin to move off toward 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 characteristics of the Red- 

 winged Starling; but there remain some facts to be mentioned, no 

 less authentic and well deserving the consideration 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, 

 caterpillars, and various other larvae — the silent, but deadly ene- 

 mies 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 tribe together. For these vermin, the Star- 

 lings search with great diligence in the ground, at the roots of 

 plants, in orchards and meadows, as well as among buds, leaves, 

 and blossoms ; and, from their known voracity, the multitudes of 

 these insects which they destroy must be immense. Let me illus- 

 trate this by a short computation : If we suppose each bird, on an 

 average, to devour fifty of these larvae in a day (a very moderate 

 allowance), a single pair, in four months, the usual time such food 

 is sought after, will consume upward of twelve thousand. It is 

 believed that not less than a million pair of these birds are dis- 

 tributed over the whole extent of the United States in summer, 



