172 
OMNIVOROUS BIRDS. 
in the middle and northern parts of the union the Red- 
Winged Blackbirds commence constructing their nests. 
The situation made choice of is generally in some marsh, 
swamp, or wet meadow, abounding with alder ( Alnus ) 
or Button-bushes (CephalaniJms) ; in these, commonly at 
the height of 5 to 7 feet from the ground, or sometimes in 
a detached bush or tussock of rank grass in the meadow, 
the nest is formed. Outwardly it is composed of a consid- 
erable quantity of the long dry leaves of Sedge-grass 
( Car ex ), or other kinds collected in wet situations, and 
occasionally the slender leaves of the flag (Iris) carried 
round all the adjoining twigs of the bush by way of 
support or suspension, and sometimes blended with 
strips of the lint of the swamp Asdepias or silk- weed. 
The whole of this exterior structure is also twisted in 
and out, and carried in loops from one side of the nest to 
the other, pretty much in the manner of that of the Orioles, 
but made of less flexible and handsome materials. The 
large interstices that remain, as well as the bottom, are 
then filled in with rotten wood, marsh-grass roots, fibrous 
peat, or mud, so as to form, when dry, a stout and substan- 
tial, though concealed shell, the whole very well lined 
with fine dry stalks of grass or with slender rushes,, (Scir- 
pi.) When the nest is in a tussock, it is also tied to the ad- 
joining stalks of herbage ; * but when on the ground this 
precaution of fixity is laid aside. The eggs are from 3 to 
5, white, tinged with blue, marked with faint streaks of 
light purple, and long straggling serpentine lines and 
dashes of very dark brown ; the markings not very nu- 
merous, and disposed almost wholly at the greater end. 
They raise two broods commonly in the season. If the 
nest is approached while the female is sitting, or when 
* This description, drawn from nature, agrees very nearly with that given by PeA- 
nant, Arctic -SSool. vol. i. p. 300. 
