THE RED- WINGED STARLING. 
35 
up the insects that frequent the blossoms. This tree is found dispersed 
throughout the United States, and grows, as its name indicates, in the imme- 
diate vicinity of water. Its wood is soft, and is hardly used for any other 
purpose than that of being converted into common domestic utensils. 
Red-winged Starling, Sturnus prcedatorius, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iv. p. 30. 
Icterus phceniceus, Bonap. Syn., p. 52. 
Agelaius phceniceus, Red-winged Maize-bird, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. 
ii. p. 280. 
Red-winged Blackbird, Icterus phoeniceus, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 169. 
Red-winged Starling or Marsh Blackbird, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 348 ; vol. v. 
p. 487. 
Tail considerably rounded. Male with the 
plumage glossy black, the smaller wing-coverts 
scarlet, their first or posterior row buff-coloured, 
at the tip whitish. Female much smaller, with 
the upper parts dark brown, the feathers edged 
with light brown ; some of the 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 yellow- 
ish-brown band over the eye ; lower parts longi- 
tudinally 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 yel- 
lowish-brown. 
Male, 9, 14. Female, 7 h . 
Breeds from Texas throughout the United 
States, and northward to the Saskatchewan. 
Vast numbers spend the winter in the Southern 
and Western States. 
In a male preserved in spirits, the palate 
ascends rapidly, and is in the middle concave, 
with two very prominent papillate ridges, which, 
in meeting, form a large soft prominence, ante- 
riorly of which the roof of the mouth is nearly 
flat, with a median and two lateral ridge3. The 
posterior aperture of the nares is oblongo-linear, 
