RED-WINGED STARLING. 283 
it is placed. The same caution is observed when a tussock is chosen, 
by fastening the tops together, and intertwining the materials of which 
th2 nest is formed with the stalks of. rushes around. When placed on 
the pea less care and fewer materials being necessary, the nest is 
much simpler and slighter than before. The female lays five eggs, of 
avery pale light blue, marked with faint tinges of light purple, and 
long, straggling lines and dashes of black. It is not uncommon to find 
several nests in the same thicket, within a few feet of each other. 
During the time the female is sitting, and still more partictlarly 
after the young are hatched, the male, like most other birds that build 
in low situations, exhibits the most violent symptoms of apprehension 
and.alarm on the approach of any person to its near neighborhood. 
Like the Lapwing of Europe, he flies to meet the intruder, hovers at a 
short height overhead, uttering loud notes of distress; and, while in 
this situation, displays to great advantage the rich, glowing scarlet of 
his wings, heightened by the jetty black of his general plumage. As 
the danger increases, his cries become more shrill and incessant, and 
his motions rapid and restless ; the whole meadow is alarmed, and a 
collected crowd of his fellows hover around, and mingle their notes of 
alarm and agitation with his. When the young are taken away, or 
destroyed, he continues for several days near the place, restless and 
dejected, and generally recommences building soon after, in the same 
meadow. Towards the beginning or middle of August, the young 
birds begin to fly in flocks, and at that age nearly resemble the female, 
with the exception of some reddish or orange, that marks the shoulders 
of the males, and which increases in space and brilliancy as winter 
approaches. It has been frequently remarked, that, at this time, the 
young birds chiefly associate by themselves, there being sometimes 
not more than two or three old males observed in a flock of many 
thousands. These, from the superior blackness and rich red of their 
plumage, are very conspicnous. ‘ 
Before the beginning of September, these flocks have become nu- 
merous and formidable ; and the young ears of maize, or Indian corn, 
being then in their soft, succulent, milky state, present a temptation 
that cannot be resisted. Reénforced by numerous and daily flocks 
from all parts of the interior, they pour down on the low countries in 
prodigious multitudes. Here they are seen, like vast clouds, wheeling 
and driving over the meadows and devoted corn-fields, darkening the 
air with their numbers. Then commences the work of destruction on 
the corn, the husks of which, though composed of numerous envelop- 
ments of closely-wrapped leaves, are soon completely or partially torn 
off; while from all quarters myriads continue to_pour down like a 
tempest, blackening half an acre at a time; and, if not disturbed, re- 
peat their depredations, till little remains but the cob and the shrivelled 
skins of the grain; what little is left of the tender ear, being exposed 
to the rains and weather, is generally much injured. All the attacks 
and havock made at this time among them with the gun, and by the 
Hawks, — several species of which are their constant attendants, — 
has little effect on the remainder. When the Hawks make a sweep 
among them, they suddenly open on all sides, but rarely in time to 
disappoint them a” their victims; and, though repeatedly fired at, with 
mortal effect, they only remove from one field to an adjoining one, or 
