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RED-WINGED STARLINX.
during the day. Instead of the bUmp or bbomp, however, of the
true Bittern, their call is something like the uncouth syllables of
pump-a4-gah, but uttered in the same low, bellowing tone.
The cry of the European Bittern, so similar to that of our own
species, is thus elegantly described by Goldsmith in his Animated
Nature: "IThose who have walked in a summer evening by the
sedgy sides of unfrequented rivers, must remember a variety of
notes from different water-fowl: the loud scream of the Wild
Goose, the croaking of the Mallard, the whining of the Lapwing,
and the tremulous neighing of the Jack-snipe. But, of all these
sounds, there is none so dismally hollow as the booming of the
Bittern. It is impossible for words to give those who have not
heard this evening-call an adequate idea of its solemnity. It is
like the interrupted bellowing of a bull, but hollower and louder,
end is heard at a mile's distance, as if issuing from some formida-
Dle being that resided at the bottom of the waters. This is the
Bittern, whose wind-pipe is fitted to produce the sound for which
it is remarkable; the lower part of it, dividing into the lungs, being
supplied with a thin, loose membrane, that can be filled with a
large body of air, and exploded at pleasure. These bellowings
are chiefly heard from the beginning of spring to the end of au-
tumn, and are the usual calls during the pairing season."-Nutlall.
The Bittern manifests considerable skill in taking position. If
it is standing quiet, and is undisturbed, it raises its body a little in
front, and draws in its long neck to such an extent so that its head
will touch its back. When irritated, it will raise the feathers of
its body, especially those of the head and neck, and open a little
its bill, giving it quite a formidable appearance. Its walk is slow,
considerate, and sluggish; the foot is placed before the other only
after careful study. The flight is easy and noiseless, but slow and
apparently awkward; the large, broad wings are moved with a
languid stir and slowly succeeding flaps, with a little increase in
flapping on rising. To gain height, the Bittern marks out circles,
neither hovering nor sailing, but constantly flapping the wings; this
it continues, also, when coming down, until it is close to the reeds
or rushes, when it suddenly contracts the wings, and apparently
falls perpendicularly down between the stems of the rushes. It
only flies at great height by night; in daylight, its flight is close
above the rushes or reeds. During its flight at night, it utters a
kind of raven-like crowing. These peculiar bellowings are only
heard during mating-time.
Although, in a particular place, apparently favorable, some
dozens of these birds may be found to-day, yet, perhaps, on visit-
ing it to-morrow, you will not find one remaining; and districts
resorted to one season or year, will be found deserted by them the
next. That they migrate by night, I have always felt assured;
but that they are altogether nocturnal, is rather uncertain, for, in
more than half a dozen instances, I have surprised them in the
act of procuring food in the middle of the day, when the sun was
shining brightly. That they are extremely timid, I well know,
for on several occasions, when I have suddenly come upon them,
they have stood still, from mere terror, until I have knocked them
down with an oar or stick; yet, when wounded, and their courage
is raised, they show great willingness to defend themselves; and
if in the presence of a dog, they never fail to spread out, to their
full extent, the feathers of the neck, leaving its hind part bare,
ruffle those of their body, extend their wings, and strike violently
at their enemy. When seized, they scratch furiously, and en-
deavor to bite, so that, unless great care be taken, they may in-
flict severe wounds.-Audubon.
Wilson describes it as another nocturnal species, common to all
our sea and river marshes, though nowhere numerous. It rests
all day among the reeds and rushes, and, unless disturbed, flies
and feeds only during the night. In some places, it is called the
Indian Hen; on the sea-coast of New Jersey, it is known by the
name of dunkatoo, a word probably imitative of its common note.
They are also found in the interior, having myself killed one at
the inlet of the Seneca lake, in October.
The American Bittern is twenty-seven inches long, and three
feet four inches in extent; from the point of the bill to the extrem-
ity of the toes, it measures three feet. The bill is four inches
long; the upper mandible black; the lower, greenish-yellow;
lores and eyelids, yellow; iris, bright-yellow; upper part of the
head, flat, and remarkably depressed; the plumage there is of a
deep blackish-brown, long behind and on the neck, the general
color of which is a yellowish-brown, shaded with darker; this
long plumage of the neck the bird can throw forward at will, when
irritated, so as to give him a more formidable appearance; throat,
whitish, streaked with deep brown; from the posterior and lower
part of the auriculars, a broad patch of deep black passes diago-
nally across the neck, a distinguished characteristic of this species;
the back is deep brown, barred and mottled with innumerable
specks and streaks of brownish-yellow; quills, black, with a
leaden gloss, and tipped with yellowish-brown; legs and feet, yel-
low, tinged with pale green; middle claw, pectinated; belly, light
yellowish-brown, streaked with darker; vent, plain; thighs,
sprinkled on the outside with grains of dark-brown; male and fe-
male nearly alike, the latter somewhat less. According to Be-
wick, the tail of the European Bittern contains only ten feathers;
the American species has invariably twelve. The intestines meas-
ured five feet six inches in length, and were very little thicker than
a common knitting needle; the stomach is usually filled with fish
or frogs.
The American bird, no less than the true Bittern, is considered
by many an excellent food.
The Red-winged Starling (Agelaius phceniceus).
Fig. 2, Male. Fig. 3, Female.
The Red-winged Starlings, though generally migratory in the
States north of Maryland, are found during the winter in immense
flocks, sometimes associated with the Purple Grakles, and often by
themselves, along the whole lower parts of Virginia, both Caro-
linas, Georgia, and Louisiana, particularly near the sea-coast, and
in the vicinity of large rice and corn-fields. In the months of Jan-
uary and February, while passing through the former of these
countries, I was frequently entertained with the aerial evolutions
of these great bodies of Starlings. Sometimes they appeared driv-
ing about like an enormous black cloud carried before the wind,
varying its shape every moment; sometimes suddenly rising from
the fields around me, with a noise like thunder; while the glitter-
ing of innumerable wings of the brightest vermilion, amid the
black cloud they formed, produced on these occasions 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 commenced one general concert
or chorus, that I have plainly distinguished at the distance of more
than two miles, and, when listened to at the intermediate space of
aboi4 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 maneuvers, or in grand vocal per-
formances, 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
Gu a_ _:              :     _       s ..:    L.... : sao_+ +__s
eilgit, ur june III tule morning, pabsrng to tie nortn, unuitcruil
each other as they fly along; and, in spite of all our antipal
their well-known notes and appearance, after the long and drt
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