RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 99 
much in the manner of the Orioles, but made of less flexible 
and handsome materials. The large interstices that remain, as 
well as the bottom, are then filled in with rotten wood, marsh- 
grass roots, fibrous peat, or mud, so as to form, when dry, a 
stout and substantial, though concealed shell, the whole very 
well lined with fine dry stalks of grass or with slender rushes 
(Scirpz). When the nest is in a tussock, it is also tied to the 
adjoining stalks of herbage ; but when on the ground this pre- 
caution of fixity is laid aside. The eggs are from 3 to 5, 
white, tinged with blue, marked with faint streaks of light pur- 
ple, and long, straggling, serpentine lines and dashes of very 
dark brown; the markings not very numerous, and disposed 
almost wholly at the greater end. They raise two broods com- 
monly in the season. If the nest is approached while the 
female is sitting, or when the young are hatched, loud cries of 
alarm are made by both parties, but more particularly by the 
restless male, who flies to meet the intruder, and generally 
brings together the whole sympathizing company of his fellows, 
whose nests sometimes are within a few yards of each other. 
The female cries ’gueah, "puech, and at length, when the mis- 
chief they dreaded is accomplished, the louder notes give way 
to others which are more still, slow, and mournful; one of 
which resembles /’ai, 7’ai, or “a and fésheah. When the young 
are taken or destroyed, the-pair continue restless cand de dejected 
for several days ; but from the force of their gregarious habit 
they again commence building, usually soon after, in the same 
meadow or swamp with their neighbors. In the latter part of 
July and August the young birds, now resembling the female, 
begin to fly in flocks and release themselves partly from depen- 
dence on their parents, whose cares up to this time are faithful 
and unremitting ; a few males only seem inclined to stay and 
direct their motions. 
About the beginning of September these flocks, by their 
formidable numbers, do great damage to the unripe corn, 
which is now a favorite repast; and they are sometimes seen 
whirling and driving over the devoted cornfields and meadows 
so as to darken the air with their numbers. The destruction 
