24 
RED-WINGED STARLING. 
the intermediate space of about a quarter of a mile, with a 
slight breeze of wind to swell and soften the flow of its 
cadences, was to me grand, and even sublime. The whole 
season of winter, that, with most birds, is past in struggling 
to sustain life in silent melancholy, is, with the Red-wings, one 
continued carnival. The profuse gleanings of the old rice, 
corn, and buckwheat fields, supply them with abundant food, 
at once ready and nutritious ; and the intermediate time is 
spent either in aerial manoeuvres, or in grand vocal perform- 
ances, as if solicitous to supply the absence of all the tuneful 
summer tribes, and to cheer the dejected face of nature with 
their whole combined powers of harmony. 
About the 20th of March, or earlier, if the season be open, 
they begin to enter Pennsylvania in numerous, though small 
parties. These migrating flocks are usually observed from 
daybreak to eight or nine in the morning, passing to the north, 
chattering to each other as they fly along ; and, in spite of all 
our antipathy, their well known notes and appearance, after 
the long and dreary solitude of winter, inspire cheerful and 
pleasing ideas of returning spring, warmth, and verdure. 
Selecting their old haunts, every meadow is soon enlivened 
by their presence. They continue in small parties to frequent 
the low borders of creeks, swamps, and ponds, till about the 
middle of April, when they separate in pairs to breed ; and, 
about the last week in April, or first in May, begin to con- 
struct their nest. The place chosen for this is generally 
within the precincts of a marsh or swamp, meadow 1 ', or other 
like watery situation, — the spot, usually a thicket of alder 
bushes, at the height of six or seven feet from the ground ; 
sometimes in a detached bush, in a meadow of high grass ; 
often’ in a tussock of rushes, or coarse rank grass ; and not 
unfrequently on the ground : in all of which situations I have 
repeatedly found them. When in a bush, they are generally 
composed outwardly of wet rushes, picked from the swamp, 
and long tough grass in large quantity, and well lined with 
very fine bent. The rushes, forming the exterior, are 
