RED- WINGED STARLING. 37 



two inches longer than the latter, and of proportionate magni- 

 tude. They are known by various names in the different states 

 of the union ; such as the Swamp Blackbird, Marsh Blackbird, 

 Red-winged Blackbird, Corn or Maize thief, Starling, &c. Many of 

 them have been carried from this to different parts of Europe, and 

 Edwards relates that one of them, which had no doubt escaped 

 from a cage, was shot in the neighbourhood of London; and on 

 being opened, its stomach was found to be filled with grub worms, 

 caterpillars and beetles ; which BufFon seems to wonder at, as " in 

 their own country,^^ he observes, " they feed exclusively on grain 

 " and maize.^' 



Hitherto this species has been generally classed by naturalists 

 with the Orioles. By a careful comparison, however, of its bill 

 with those of that tribe, the similarity is by no means sufficient to 

 justify this arrangement; and its manners are altogether different. 

 I can find no genus to which it makes so near an approach, both in 

 the structure of the bill and in food, flight and manners as those of 

 the Stare, with which, following my judicious friend Mr. Bartram, 

 I have accordingly placed it. To the European the perusal of the 

 foregoing pages will be sufficient to satisfy him of their similarity 

 of manners. For the satisfaction of those who are unacquainted 

 with the common Starling of Europe, I shall select a few sketches 

 of its character, from the latest and most accurate publication I 

 have seen from that quarter.^ Speaking of the Stare or Starling, 

 this writer observes, " In the winter season these birds fly in vast 

 flocks, and may be known at a great distance by their whirling 

 mode of flight, which Buffon compares to a sort of vortex, in which 

 the collective body performs an uniform circular revolution, and 

 at the same time continues to make a progressive advance. The 

 evening is the time when the Stares assemble in the greatest num- 

 bers, and betake themselves to the fens and marshes, where they 



* Bewick's British Birds, part i, p. 119, Newcastle, 1809. 

 VOL. IV. K 



