RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 



AGELAIUS PH(ENICEUS. 



Char. Male: black; lesser wing-coverts vermilion, bordered with 

 buff. Female : above, blackibh brown streaked with paler and grayish ; 

 lower parts dusky white streaked with reddish brown ; sometimes wing- 

 coverts have a reddish tinge. Young like female, but colors deeper. 

 Length 7}^ to 10 inches. 



Nest. In a tuft of grass or on a bush ; composed of grass, leaves, and 

 mud, lined with soft grass. 



E!;^s. 3-51 color varies from bluish white to greenish blue, blotched, 

 streaked, and spotted with lilac and dark brown; size variable, average 

 about I. GO X .90. 



The Red-Winged Troopial in summer inhabits the whole of 

 North America from Nova Scotia to Mexico, and is found in 

 the interior from the 53d degree across the whole continent to 

 the shores of the Pacific and along the coast as far as Cali- 

 fornia. They are migratory north of Maryland, but pass the 

 winter and summer in great numbers in all the Southern States, 

 frequenting chiefly the settlements and rice and corn fields ; 

 towards the sea-coast, where they move about like blackening 

 clouds, rising suddenly at times with a noise like thunder, and 

 exhibiting amidst the broad shadows of their funereal plumage 

 the bright flashing of the vermilion with which their wings are 

 so singularly decorated. After whirling and waving a little 

 clistance like the Starling, they descend as a torrent, and, dark- 



