246 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



SCOLECOPHAGUS CAROLINUS (Miiller). 

 RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 



Adtilt male in summer. — Uniform black, faintly glossed with bluish 

 green changing to dull violet-bluish on head and neck; under tail- 

 coverts more or less distinctly margined with whitish; l)ill, legs, and 

 feet, black; iris pale yellow or yellowish white. 



Adult 1)1 ale in ■winter. — Similar to the summer piumage, but the black 

 obscured or overlaid by rustv brown (burnt uin})er) on pileum, hind- 

 neck, back, and scapulars, and bj^ cinnamon -butiy on superciliary and 

 malar regions, chin, throat, chest, and sides. ^ 



Adult female in summier. — Uniform dull slate color, darker and 

 faintly glossed with bluish green on upper parts; bill, legs, and feet 

 black; iris pale yellow. 



Adult female mWn^e/'.— Similar to the summer plumage, but pileum, 

 hindneck, back, and scapulars more or less washed or overlaid by rustj^ 

 brown, tertials and greater wing-coverts more oi" less margined with 

 the same, a more or less conspicuous superciliar}^ stripe of butfy, and 

 feathers of malar region, chin, throat, chest, and sides more or less 

 broadly tipped with pale wood brown or brownish bufl'y. 



Young. — Above dark sooty brown, more slate-dusk}- on remiges and 

 rectrices; tertials and terminal portion of greater and middle wing- 

 coverts margined with rusty; a more or less distinct superciliar}- stripe 

 of light rusty or brownish; under parts brownish gray, more or less 

 tinged with light butfy brown (wood brown or Isabella color) on malar 

 region, chin, throat, chest, etc. 



Adidt male.— hen^th (skins), 209.6-236.2 (219.2); wing, 114.3-116.8 

 (115.3); tail, 86.1-92.7 (89.9); exposed culmen, 18.3-19.8 (18.8); depth 

 of bill at base, 8.1-8.4 (8.1); tarsus, 30-31.8 (30.5); middle toe, 

 21.1-22.4 (21.8).^ 



Adtdt female.— Ijength (skins), 198.1-210.8 (203.7); wing, 106.9- 

 111.5 (108.7); tail, 79-83.8 (81.5); exposed culmen, 17.3-19.1 (18.3); 

 depth of bill at base, 7.6-8.1 (7.9); tarsus, 29.5-31.2 (30.5); middle 

 toe, 20.6-22.6 (21.3).^ 



Northern and eastern North America; breeding from Nova Scotia, 

 New Brunswick, northern Maine, New Hampshire (White Mountains), 

 Vermont, northern New York (south to Herkimer County), and 



'The extent of this rusty and bnffy coloring varies exceedingly in different indi- 

 viduals, probal>ly according to age. In some (doubtless younger birds) the rusty is 

 nearly uniform on the pileum and hindneck, and forms very broad tips to the scapu- 

 lars and interscapulars, while the cinnamon-buff y forms a conspicuous broad super- 

 ciliary stripe and is nearly uniform over the malar region, chin, and throat. Other win- 

 ter males (probably very old individuals) have scarcely a trace of this rusty and 

 buffy coloring, being quite like summer specimens, except that the plumage is more 

 highly glossed. 



^ Five specimens. 



