RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 249 



quite young birds, having glossy black breasts with a 

 drab line down middle. The heads of all are light- 

 colored, perhaps a slaty drab, and some apparently 

 wholly of this color. 



[See also under Domestic Fowl, p. 435.] 



KED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 



Oct. 5, 1851. I hear the red-wing blackbirds by the 

 riverside again, as if it were a new spring. They appear 

 to have come to bid farewell. The birds appear to de- 

 part with the coming of the frosts, which kill vegetation 

 and, directly or indirectly, the insects on which they feed. 



April 22, 1852. The strain of the red-wing on the 

 willow spray over the water to-night is liquid, bub- 

 bling, watery, almost like a tinkling fountain, in perfect 

 harmony with the meadow. It oozes, trickles, tinkles, 

 bubbles from his throat, — bob-y-lee-e-e, and then its 

 shrill, fine whistle. 



May 7, 1852. The red-wing's shoulder, seen in a 

 favorable light, throws all epaulets into the shade. It 

 is General Abercrombie, methinks, when they wheel 

 partly with the red to me. 



May 8, 1852. The blackbirds have a rich sprayey 

 warble now, sitting on the top of a willow or an elm. 

 They possess the river now, flying back and forth 

 across it. 



March 19, 1853. This morning I hear the blackbird's 

 fine clear whistle and also his sprayey note, as he is 

 swayed back and forth on the twigs of the elm or of 

 the black willow over the river. His first note may be 

 a chuck, but his second is a rich gurgle or warble. 



