RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 
Agelaius phceniceus. 
Char. Male; black; lesser wing-coverts vermilion, bordered with 
buff. Female : above, blackish brown streaked with paler and grayish ; 
lower parts dusky white streaked with reddish brown ; sometimes wing- 
coverts have a reddish tinge. Young like female, but colors deeper. 
Length 7^ to lo inches. 
Nest. In a tuft of grass or on a bush ; composed of grass, leaves, and 
mud, lined with soft grass. 
3”S? color varies from bluish white to greenish blue, blotched, 
streaked, and spotted with lilac and dark brown ; size variable, average 
about l.oo X .90. 
The Red- Winged Troopial in summer inhabits the whole of 
North America from Nova Scotia to Mexico, and is found in 
the interior from the 53d degree across the whole continent to 
the shores of the Pacific and along the coast as far as Cali- 
fornia, They are migratory north of Maryland, but pass the 
winter and summer in great numbers in all the Southern States, 
frequenting chiefly the settlements and rice and corn fields j 
towards the sea-coast, where they move about like blackening 
clouds, rising suddenly at times with a noise like thunder, and 
exhibiting amidst the broad shadows of their funereal plumage 
the bright flashing of the vermilion with which their wings are 
so singularly decorated. After whirling and waving a little 
distance like the Starling, they descend as a torrent, and, dark- 
