WILDLIFE OF THE ATLANTIC COAST SALT MARSHES 



11 



among the stalks of 

 marsh plants, but 

 sometimes also in 

 bushes. The eggs, 

 two to five in number, 

 are pale bluish green, 

 spotted, blotched, and 

 scrawled with brown 

 to purplish. When 

 scattered, redwings 

 probably do more 

 good than harm by 

 their feeding habits, 

 but when congregated 

 in great numbers in 

 grainfields after the 

 breeding season, they 

 may be disastrous and 

 in need of control. 



'A ^ 



m ' w» 



Figure 3.— Red-winged blackbird. 



MEADOWLARK 



The meadowlark (Stumella magna) (fig. 4), a plump bird, brown- 

 ish above, yellow below, with a black crescent on the breast and white 

 feathers on each side of the tail showing plainly in flight, may be 

 found in the marsh-hay zone of the salt marshes in winter, and it 





Figure 4. — Meadowlark 



breeds in this zone from Virginia north. It is sometimes called 

 marsh quail and formerly was used as a game bird. It is a highly 

 insectivorous species, however, and deserves protection, except on 

 forays into fields of sprouting corn, peas, and peanuts, and into ripen- 

 ing tomatoes in the South during its spring migration. Permits to 



