AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
ORDER III. PASSERES. PASSERINE. 
Genus XXXI. STURNUS. STARLING. 
Species. S. PREDATORIUS. 
RED- WINGED STARLING. 
[Plate XXX. Fig. 1, Male.— Fig. 2, Female.] 
Oriolus phceniceus, Linn. Si/st. 161. — Red-winged Oriole, Arct.Zool. 255, No. 140. — 
Icterus pterophcenicieus, Briss. ii., 97. — Le Commandeur, Buff, hi., 214, PL Enl. 
402. — Lath, i., 428. — AcolchicM, Fern and. Nov. Hisp. p. 14. Red-winged 
Starling, Catesb. p. 13. 
This notorious and celebrated corn-thief, the long-reputed plunderer 
and pest of our honest and laborious farmers, now presents 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 endeavor 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, some- 
times associated with the Purple Grakles, and often by themselves, along 
the whole lower parts of Virginia, both Carolinas, Georgia, and Loui- 
siana, particularly near the sea-coast, and in the vicinity of large rice 
and corn fields. In the months of January and February, while passing 
through the former of these countries, I was frequently entertained with 
* Wilson here alludes to the Pileated AVoodpecker, which in the original edition 
precedes the Red-winged Starling. 
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