284 RED-WINGED STARLING. 
to another quarter of the same enclosure. From dawn to nearly sun- 
set, this open and daring devastation is carried on, under the eye of 
the proprietor ; and a farmer, who has any considerable extent of corn; 
would require half-a-dozen men at least, with guns, to guard it; and 
even then, all their vigilance and activity would not prevent a good 
tithe of it from becoming the prey of the Blackbirds. The Indians, 
who usually plant their corn in one general field, keep the whole 
young boys of the village all day patrolling round and among it; and 
each being furnished with bow and arrows, with which they are very 
expert, they generally contrive to destroy great numbers of them. 
It must, however, be observed, that this scene of pillage is princi- 
pally carried on in the low countries, not far from the sea-coast, or 
near the extensive flats that border our large rivers; and is also chiefly . 
confined to the months of August and September. After this period, . 
the corn having acquired its hard, shelly coat, and the seeds of the 
reeds or wild oats, with a profusion of other plants, that abound along 
the river shores, being now ripe, and-in great abundance, they present 
a new and more extensive field for these marauding multitudes. The 
reeds also supply them with convenient roosting places, being’ often 
in almost unapproachable morasses; and thither they repair every 
evening, from al quarters of the country. In some places, however, 
when the reeds become dry, advantage is taken of this circumstance, 
to destroy these birds, by a party secretly approaching the place, under 
cover of a dark night, setting fire to the reeds in several places at 
once, which being soon enveloped in one general flame, the uproar 
among the Blackbirds becomes universal; and, ‘by the light of the 
conflagration, they are shot down in vast numbers, while‘hovering and 
screaming over the place. Sometimes straw is used for the same 
purpose, being previously strewed near the reeds and alder bushes, 
where they are known to roost, which being instantly set on fire, the 
cohsternation and havock are prodigious ; and the party return by day 
to pick up the slaughtered game. About the first of November, they 
begin to move off towards the south; though, near the sea-coast, in 
the states of New Jersey and Delaware, they continue long after that 
period. 
Such are the general manners and character of the Red-winged 
Starling; but there remain some facts to be mentioned, no less authen- 
tic, and well deserving the consideration of its enemies, more especially 
of those whose detestation of this species would stop at nothing short 
of total extirpation. . : 
It has been already stated, that they arrive in Pennsylvania late in 
March. Their general food at this season, as well as during the early 
part of summer, (for the Crows and Purple Grakles are the principal 
pests in planting time,) consists of grub-worms, caterpillars, and various 
other larve, the silent, but deadly enemies of all vegetation, and whose 
secret and insidious attacks are more, to be dreaded by the husband- 
man than the combined forces of the whole feathered tribes together. 
For these vermin, the Starlings search with great diligence, in the 
ground, at the roots of plants, in orchards, and meadows, as well as 
among buds, leaves, and blossoms; and, from their known voracity, 
the multitudes of these insects which they destroy must be immense. 
Let me illustrate this by a short computution: Jf we.sippose each 
