264 ltllAt‘KBlltlls, ORIOL CS, E'l‘t‘. 
     
    
   
   
    
     plains, often following and running about with the cattle, in company 
     
     with Cowbirds; but their natural home is on or about the marshy, 
     
     wccdy grounds, and during the breeding season [they are] seldom to 
     
     be met with far away. . . . 
     
    

    
     “'l‘heir notes are harsh, and their attempt at song a laborious, 
     
     whistling, squeaky, chuckling sound " (Gus-s). 
     
    
   
   
    
     498. Agelaius phoeniceus (LI/111.). lit-:iHVLVot-J) BLACttBnm. 
     
     Ali. 5.7Lcsscr \\'in;:—eo\‘erts#"shoulders“-—bri)_rht scarlet; middle wing— 
     
     eoverts varying: from oehraceous—lnitt' to butl'y white; rest of the plumage. 
     
     blaek——iu tall and winter specimens more or less tipped with rusty. 1m. 6 .~— 
     
     Upper parts margined with rusty and butl'y ; under parts tipped with whitish ; 
     
     lesser wing-coverts dull orange—red mixed with black. All. ?.!llcad and 
     
     back blackish, streaked with rusty and bully; rump and upper tail—coverts 
     
     fuseous, more or less edged with ashy; wings tuscous, edged with bufi‘y, the 
     
     lesser coverts sometimes tinged with reddish; under parts conspicuously 
     
     streaked with black and white; the throat tinged with orange or yellow. 
     
     6 L., 9'51; \V., 4'72; ’l‘., 3'77; 11,68. 
     
    

    
     [Maya—Eastern North America; breeds from the (hilt‘ot‘ Mexico to New 
     
     Brunswick and Manitoba. and winters from Virginia southward. 
     
    

    
     Washington. common I). 1L. abundant in migrations. Sing Sing, common 
     
     S. R., Feb. :35 to Nov. 11. Cambridge, abundant 5. 1L, )Ieh. to Aug; a tow 
     
    
   
   
    
     Winter. 
     
    

    
     Next, of coarse grasses, weed stalks, ete., lined with finer grasses and root- 
     
     lets, attached to low bushes or reeds. [Li/gs. three to tire. pale blue. singularly 
     
     streaked, spotted, or scrawled with dark purple or black, chietly at the larger 
     
     end, 1'04 x '72. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A swiftly moving, compact band of silent birds. passing low through 
     
     the brown orchard, suddenly wheels. and, alighting among the bare 
     
     branches, with the precision of a trained choir breaks into a wild, 
     
     tinklinf,r glee. It is quite possible that in the sunnner this rude chorus 
     
     might fail to awaken enthusiasm, but in the spring it is as welcome 
     
     and inspiringr a promise of the new year as the peeping of frogs or 
     
     blooming of the first wild (lower. 
     
    

    
     Plain, striaked )lrs. Itedwiug. who has been spending the wintet in 
     
     tlocks composed only of others of her sex. soon appears, but mating,r is 
     
     delayed until late April or early May. Then we find the old homes in 
     
     the wet meadows and marshes occupied by apparently the some birds 
     
     which have dwelt there for years. 
     
    

    
     Mounting the topmost. branch ot'a tree not far from the nest, the male 
     
     becomes an ever-vigilant sentinel. Ilis: rich “ lrl)zrr/—/]I/(7r-1‘I7F,” which by 
     
     association is so strongly suggestive, of reedy marshes. is a 5 .mil that 
     
     “all’s well.” lle challenges all suspicious characters by an i'iqniriug 
     
     chill, chuck, and with a long, shrill alarm-note, t'ltme»r-¢a-e-e. circles out on 
     
     fluttering wings, his gorgeous crimson epaulcts showing eonspzcuously.