BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 319 
sectivorous by preference, and when we consider also the 
additional injury that must occur were the insects and their 
progeny allowed to increase through a lack of Meadowlarks, 
the value of the bird becomes evident. 
Red-winged Blackbird. Marsh Blackbird. 
Agelaius pheniceus. 
Length. — About nine and one-half inches. 
Adult Male. — Black, with a light-edged scarlet patch at bend of wing; often 
only the light edges of this patch show when the wings are closed. 
Adult Female.— Smaller; grayish-brown, streaked heavily with dark brown or 
blackish. 
Young. — Similar to female. 
Nest.—In grass or bush; rarely in a tree. 
Eggs.— Pale bluish, with spots and scrawls of darker colors and black. 
Season. — March to August. 
Few birds are better known than the Red-winged Black- 
bird. Almost every small bog hole or swamp about the farm 
harbors a pair or more of these birds. They are common 
about ponds and meadows. The 
males arrive in flocks, usually in 
March, and sometimes may be 
heard singing gaily while the ground 
is still deeply covered with snow. 
Their song is as characteristic a sign 
of spring as is that of the early wood 
frog, and their notes have something 
of the same quality. They carry 
* 7 Fig. 142.— Red-winged Black- 
a suggestion of boggy ooze. The ~ ira, male, one-half natural 
common note is a single chuck, and =!" 
the ordinary song resembles the syllables quong-ka-reee’, the 
first two uttered quickly. Some individuals have a more 
musical song, ending with a jingle akin to that of the 
. Bobolink. 
Although the Red-wings almost invariably breed in the 
swamp or marsh, they have a partiality for open fields and 
plowed lands; and most of the Blackbirds that nest in the 
smaller swamps adjacent to farm lands get a large share of 
their food from the farmer’s fields. They forage about the 
fields and meadows when they first come north in spring. 
Later, they follow the plow, picking up grubs, worms, and 
