RED-WINGED STARLING. 281 
RED-WINGED STARLIN G.—STURNUS PREDATORIUS.— 
~ Fre. 136, Matn; Fic. 187, Femaze. ‘ 
Bartram, 291.— Oriolus pheeniceus, Linn. Syst. 161.— Red-winged Oriole, Arct. 
Zool, 255, No. 140.— Le Troupiale-a aisles rouges, Briss. ii. 97. —Le comman- 
deur, Buff. iti. 214, Pl. ent. 402.— Lath. i. 428.— Acolchichi, Fernand. Nov. 
Hisp. p. 14.— Peale’s Museum, No. 1466, 1467. 
AGLAIUS PH@NICEUS.— Viei.0t.* 
Aglaius Pheeniccus, Vieill, Gall. des Ois. — North. Zool. ii. p- 280. —Icterus Phee- 
niceus, Bonap. Synop. p. 52.— The Red-winged Starling, or Marsh Blackbird. 
Aud. pl. 67, male in different states, female, and young ; Orn. Biog. i. p. 348. 
Tuus notorious and celebrated corn thief, the long-reputed plunderer 
and -pest of our honest and laborious farmers, now presents himself 
before us, with his copartner in iniquity, to receive the character due 
for their very active and distinguished services. In investigating the 
nature of these, I shall endeavor to render strict historical justice to 
this noted pair; adhering to the honest injunctions of the poet — 
Nothing extenuate, 
Nor set down aught in malice. 
Let the reader divest himself equally of prejudice, and we shall be at 
no loss to ascertain accurately their true character. 
* This bird, I believe, will rank under the Icteri of Brisson, but seems first men- 
tioned by Daudin under that title. Like the others of this intricate family, it has 
been described under a multitude of names; but the above seems the preferable 
one to be adopted. Wilson also changed the specific name to Predatorius, taken 
from its plundering habits, whereas, without doubt, he should have retained its ori- 
inal designatién. North America possesses another beautiful species, figured in 
the Continuation of the Ornitholoey by Bonaparte. : ‘ 
Wilson is somewhat puzzled in what genus to place this bird, and is only recon- 
ciled to join it with our Common Starling, which it much resembles in its congrega- 
ted flights. In this country, we cannot-expect to see a flight of such number’ as 
Wilson mentions ; still they are sometimes very numerous, and one might almost 
conceive the appearance of the onc, from their recollections of the other. Tn the 
low meadows of Holland, again, some relative proportion may be found. 1 have 
seen an extent of flat surface, as far as the eye could reach around, covered with 
flocks of Starlings, associated with Lapwings and Golden Plovers; and the flocks 
that rose on the approach of night were sometimes immense. In the islands of 
Sardinia, and those adjacent, att where they may be augmented by the presence 
of another species, the St. 2zicolor of Temminck, I am told that the assemblage 
of birds is innumerable in the lower valleys, and among the lakes and Teedy 
marshes which cover so much of the lower parts of these countries. In their evo- 
lutions before retiring to rest among reeds or bushes, the two birds also resemble 
each other. That of Europe is thus described by an observing naturalist :—“ There 
is something singularly curious and mysterious in the conduct of these birds, pre- 
vious to their nightly retirement, by the variety and intricacy of the evolutions they 
execute at that time. They will form themselves, perhaps, into a triangle, then 
shoot into a long, peer shaped figure, expand like a sheet, wheel into a ball, as 
Pliny observes, each individual striving to get into the centre, &c., with a prompti- 
tude more like parade movements, than the action of birds.” Thave known them 
watched for, when'coming to roost, and shot in considerable numbers. Their wings 
afford favorite way) for fishers. — Ep. 
