196 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 



SOME NOTES ON THE PLUMAGE OF THE MALE FLORIDA RED- 

 WING (AGELAIUS P. FLORIDANUS). 



While engaged in field work in Louisiana during June of the present year, 

 my attention was called to a seeming absence or greatly restricted color 

 marking on the shoulders of a considerable percentage of the males of the 

 local red-wings (apparently Agelaius p. floridanus) ; and as I can discover 

 no reference to this condition during the breeding season, the following 

 notes may be of interest. 



Red-wings were most abundant about the marshes of the mainland, but 

 were also represented by breeding examples on the outermost islands of the 

 Gulf, such as the Chandeleur and Errol groups, or wherever suitable en- 

 vironmental conditions existed. In Cameron Parish, southwest Louisiana, 

 they were particularly abundant, the extensive marshes which characterize 

 this region affording ideal breeding places and nests containing eggs in vari- 

 ous stages of incubation or newly hatched young, were observed daily. The 

 neighborhood of dykes bordering rice fields and the levees of the canals 

 formed the centers of abundance for nests. An occasional nest containing 

 well-fledged young was found but in no case were they able to fly, so that 

 the breeding season could be considered as at its height. At this point, 

 males in the full brilliant nuptial plumage were in the vast majority and only 

 an occasional example was noted that lacked the glossy black body and 

 bright red epaulettes. But at Avery Island, Iberia Parish, I was at once 

 impressed by the reversed ratio, and, although it is probable that they were 

 breeding in the vicinity (sparingly, at least), no nests were discovered, nor 

 were more than one or two females seen during a period of six days. Dull 

 colored males were extremely numerous, fully 1 50 being under observation 

 one afternoon as they fed from the feed boxes on the State Game Farm. As 

 they had become quite tame here it was a simple matter to select a series 

 exhibiting the variations in color and markings. 



Special attention was paid to the dissection of the specimens obtained as 

 a means of determining the exact conditions of age and reproductive develop- 

 ment. In so far as the cellular structure of the skull may be employed as 

 a criterion of age, the specimens were all obviously adult, i. e., at least one 

 year old. The undeveloped state of the sexual organs, however, was con- 

 clusive proof that they were non-breeders, and in addition to this condi- 

 tion, the plumage showed unmistakable signs of immaturity, the most ap- 

 parent being the aforementioned obscured shoulder patches. On one speci- 

 men red or orange is almost totally lacking, a few under feathers alone ex- 

 hibiting any trace of color other than black. From this extreme a complete 

 and fully connected gradation is afforded, the examples at the other end of 

 the series displaying well marked patches approximating bittersweet 

 orange, 1 but even this contrasts greatly when compared with the brilliant 

 scarlet red of the breeding birds. A few of these non-breeders (the ones 

 with the most restriction on the shoulder color) still show a few of the ashy tips 

 to the feathers of the upper breast ; this last, however, is extremely variable 

 and in no case is it at all extensive. Moreover, the glossy and more or less 



iRidgway's Color Standards and Nomenclature. 



