parents with great devotion. The old male is now especially watchful and when an 

 intruder approaches, he tries to direct his attention to some other point quite a distance 

 from the n^st. The young are fed almost entirely with noxious insects, of which they 

 consume incalculable numbers. In the northern parts of the country they have but one 

 brood each season, and I think there are only in rare cases two broods reared annually 

 in the South. In August young and old birds begin to collect in small flocks, visiting 

 the fields of com ; they are said to commit sometimes great depredations upon this cereal 

 farther south. They attack the Indian com only when in the milk ; as soon as it hardens, 

 they desist from these attacks, and seek other food. In Wisconsin they do little harm 

 to the com crop, but in southern Illinois and in the rice-fields of the South, where they 

 gather in large swarms, they commit great havoc. These scenes of pillage are, however, 

 for the most part confined to the lowlands of the Mississippi and the sea coast, and 

 only last during a short period, when the com is soft and milky. 



On the other hand I have to state that the Red-wings "more than compensate the 

 farmer for the mischief, by the immense benefits they confer in the destruction of grub- 

 worms, eater-pillars, and various kinds of larvae, the secret and deadly enemies of 

 vegetation." Every farmer knows that the fresh spring ploughing turns up an army of 

 grubs and the larvae of myriads of noxious insects, which, if left to themselves, would 

 be sufficient to destroy a large portion of the crop w^hich the ground would produce. 

 But just at this time come the immense flocks of Red-wings, the objects of the farmer's 

 aversion, and as they subsist almost exclusively on this kind of food, they resort at 

 once to the open fields and cultivated grounds, and in this way compensate the cultivator 

 of the soil doubly for all the damage they may do. During the months from March to 

 July and August their food consists almost entirely of insects, and during that period 

 "the amount of their insect food, all of it of the most noxious kinds, is perfectly enormous. 

 These they both consume themselves and feed to their young. Wilson estimated the 

 number of insects destroyed by these birds at a single season, in the United States, at 

 twelve thousand millions." (Brewer.) 



A variety, the Sonoran Red-wing, Agelaius phceniceus sonoriensis Ridgw., inhabits 

 northern Mexico and contiguous borders of the United States, from the lower Rio Grande 

 valley and southern Arizona north to the lower Colorado valley, California, and 

 Chilli wack, British Columbia. 



A second variety, the Bahaman Red-wing, Agelaius phceniceus bryanti Ridgw., is 

 found in the Bahamas, southern Florida, west to the Gulf coast of Louisiana (Lake 

 Borgne), south to Yucatan and Nicaragua. Both varieties are in almost every respect 

 identical with the common species. 



NAMES: Red-winged Blackbird, Red-wing, Common Red-wing, Swamp Blackbird, Slough Blackbird, Red- 

 winged Starling. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Orio/us pJicen/ceas Linn. (1766). AGELAIUS PHCENICEUS '^mvLl.. (\.%\G). Icterus 

 pbcenicetfs Licht. (1823). Sturnus predatorius Wils. (1811). 



DESCRIPTION : Adult wale: Uniform lustrous velvety black, with greenish reflection ; shoulders and lesser 

 wing-coverts of a bright crimson or vermillion-red ; middle coverts, brownish-yellow or buflf, and 

 usually paler towards the tips. Female: Brown above, the feathers edged or streaked with rufous- 

 brown and yellowish; beneath, whitish, streaked with brown; fore-part of throat, superciliary, and 

 median stripe strongly tinged with brownish-yellow. — Length of male, 9.00 to 10.00 inches; wing, 

 4.88 ; tail, 3.84 inches. Female, 8.00 inches ; wing, 3.99 ; tail, 3.12 inches. 



