AMERICAN STARLINGS 



(BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC.). 



Icteridae. 



^CTERID-i© is a family of birds characteristic to America, like the 

 Hummingbirds, Vireos, Tyrant Flycatchers, Wood Warblers, and 

 Mockingbirds, and it plays a far greater role in the household of 

 Nature than any of those mentioned. We find in this large family 

 exquisitely colored birds, eloquent songsters, expert nest-builders, 

 notorious nest-robbers and parasites destroying the happy family-life of 

 other small birds. Among this family we find such beautiful and familiar 

 birds like the Orioles, the Bobolink, the Red-winged Blackbird, and the 

 Meadow Lark. They enliven their haunts by their abundance, activity, 

 beauty, and especially by their gregariousness. Wherever they occur, be it 

 in the grassy, flower-adorned meadow, in field and garden, in the swamp 

 or on the woodland border, they impart to the landscape the peculiarity 

 of their presence. With the exception of the Orioles and the Meadow Lark, 

 all are exceedingly gregarious. When arriving and departing they move in 

 large flocks, consisting often of thousands of individuals. Soon after the breeding season 

 they commence to congregate into flocks, which move about in the locality until they 

 migrate southward. On sunny April days we frequently see a whole flock mounting an 

 isolated tree, where each one utters its peculiar notes until a most characteristic concert 

 is heard. All these birds moving in large swarms are known by the rather insignificant 

 name Blackbirds. The Baltimore Oriole, which is represented in the West by Bullock's 

 Oriole and in the South-west by different other bright-colored species, belongs to the 

 most beautiful and beloved of our garden birds. The Bobolink is one of our most 

 poetical birds and a glorious songster, rivalling and surpassing the celebrated European 

 Skylark. 



Most of the members of this highly interesting family are exceedingly beneficial. 

 The Bobolink belongs at the North to the farmer's best friends, and the same is true of 

 the Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbird, the Meadow Lark and Orioles, and of 

 the Rusty and Brewer's Blackbirds. The Grackles are doing some harm to the crops 

 and they also become noxious by plundering many birds' nests, while the Cowbirds are 

 destroying many a brood of our small insectivorous birds by their parasitic habit. 



