142 
AGELAINiE. ICTERUS. 
smaller wing-coverts tinged with red ; wings and tail blackish-brown, 
the feathers margined with brownish-red, the first row of small coverts 
and secondary coverts narrowly tipped with whitish ; a yellowish- 
brown band over the eye ,* lower parts longitudinally streaked with 
dusky and whitish, the fore neck strongly tinged with dull carmine. 
Young similar to the female, but without red on the small wing- 
coverts or throat, the latter part with the sides of the head being pale 
yellowish-brown. 
Male, 9, 14. Female, Ti* 
Breeds from Texas throughout the United States, and northward to 
the Saskatchewan. Vast numbers spend the winter in the Southern 
and Western States. 
Red-winged Starling, Sturnus prsedatorius, Wils. Anier. Orn. v. iv. p. 30. 
Icterus phoeniceus, Bonap. Syn. p. 52. 
Agelaius phoeniceus, Red-winged Maize-bird, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. 
p. 280. 
Red-winged Blackbird, Icterus phoeniceus, Nutt. Man. v. i. p 169. 
Red-winged Starling or Marsh-Blackbird, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 348 5 v. v. p. 487. 
GENUS IV. ICTERUS, Briss. HANGNEST. 
Bill a little shorter than the head, conical, very slightly 
decurved, compressed, tapering to a very attenuated point ; 
upper mandible with the dorsal line almost straight, being 
very slightly convex, the ridge indistinct, narrowed at the 
base ; the sides convex, the edges overlapping, the tip ex- 
tremely sharp ; gape-line ascending at the base, afterwards 
direct ; lower mandible with the angle long and of mode- 
rate width, the dorsal line and that of the crura slightly 
concave, the sides erect at the base, convex towards the 
end, the edges slightly inflected, the tip extremely slender. 
Nostrils basal, elliptical, with a small operculum. Head 
ovate, of moderate size ; neck short ; body rather slender. 
Feet of moderate length, rather stout ; tarsus much com- 
pressed, with seven anterior scutella ; toes of moderate 
size, the hind toe much stronger, the lateral about equal, 
the third and fourth united at the base. Claws rather long, 
moderately arched, much compressed, laterally grooved, 
very acute. Plumage soft and blended. Wings of mode- 
rate length, with the outer four quills nearly equal. Tail 
of moderate length, rounded and slightly emarginate. Roof 
