30 



RED-WINGED STARLING. 

 STUSJVUS PEEDATOEIUS. 

 [Plate XXX.— Fig. 1, Male.—Yig. % Female,] 



Bartram, 291. — -Oriolus Fhoeniceusy Linn. St/st. 161. — Red-winged Oriole, Arct, Zool. 255, 

 JVo. 140. — Le Troupiale a aisles rouges, Briss. II, 97. — Le Commandeur, Buff. Ill, 214. 

 PL enl. 402. — Lath. I, 428.— Jeolchiehi, Fernand. JVov. Hisp, p. 14. — Peale's Mu- 

 seum, JVo. 1466, 1467. 



THIS notorious and celebrated corn-thief, the long reputed 

 plunderer and pest of our honest and laborious farmers, now pre- 

 sents himself before us, with his copartner in iniquity, to receive 

 the character due for their very active and distinguished services. 

 In investigating the nature of these I shall endeavour to render 

 strict historical justice to this noted pair; adhering to the honest 

 injunctions of the poet, 



" Nothing extenuate. 

 Nor set down aught in malice.'^ 



Let the reader divest himself equally of prejudice, and we shall be 

 at no loss to ascertain accurately their true character. 



The Red-winged Starlings, though generally migratory in the 

 states north of Maryland, are found during winter in immense 

 flocks, sometimes associated with the Purple Grakles, and often by 

 themselves, along the whole lower parts of Virginia, both Caroli- 

 nas, Georgia and Louisiana, particularly near the sea coast, and in 

 the vicinity of large rice and corn fields. In the months of Janu- 

 ary and February, while passing through the former of these coun- 

 tries, I was frequently entertained with the aerial evolutions of 



