RED- WINGED BLACKBIRD 



Male — General color black; shoulders crimson bordered 

 with light orange; bill and legs black. Female — Head and 

 back nearly black but streaked with rusty and buff; rump and 

 tail dark brown; wings dark margined with reddish and buffy; 

 under parts streaked with black and white ; throat tinted with 

 yellow. The young birds resemble their mother until they are 

 grown. Length, nine inches. Eggs, three to five, pale blue 

 streaked with black, 1.00 x .75 inches. 



This Blackbird ranges throughout Eastern North 

 America, breeds from the Gulf of Mexico to New Brunswick 

 and winters in the Southern States. It arrives early in March 

 and leaves in November. 



It is strikingly beautiful in contrast with the dull, 

 gray, naked ground of early spring. The male comes 

 several days before the female, and while awaiting her arrival 

 he appears very restless, spreading his wings, bowing grace- 

 fully, and waltzing back and forth while constantly uttering 

 his peculiar chuck, chuck, o-kal-ree-e-e. 



The nest is built early in May in some swamp on the 

 ground, rarely in a bush. The center of a bunch of cat-tails 

 suits these birds best and the dry leaves of that plant are often 

 worked into the nest. Fine grasses and sometimes horse-hair 

 is used for a lining. The same swamp often contains the nests 

 of many of these birds, for they like to live together in large 

 families. Two broods are hatched in a season, one early in 

 June and the other late in July. 



During the spring and early summer t*he Red-wings devour 

 multitudes of injurious insects and worms ; but later, when the 



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