THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 59 
tlie fields around me with a noise like thunder; while the 
glittering of innumerable wings of the brightest vermillion 
amid the black cloud they formed, produced on these occa- 
sions a very striking and splendid effect. Then, descending 
like a torrent, and covering the branches of some detached 
grove, or clump of trees, the whole congregated multitude com- 
menced one general concert or chorus, that I have plainly dis- 
tinguished at the distance of more than two miles, and, when 
listened to at 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 
passed 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 performances, 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. 
From the same excellent authority we gather the follow- 
ing particulars of the TroopiaFs ravages in the corn-fields : — 
Before the beginning of September, the flocks have become 
numerous and formidable; and the young ears of maize, 
or Indian corn, being then in their soft, succulent, milky, 
state, present a temptation that caunot be resisted. Rein- 
