300 BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 



obscured by rusty brown above and buffy below. Adult female in summer : 

 brownish slate, faintly glossed with bluish green on upper parts. Adult 

 female in winter : brownish gray or slaty, washed with rusty above and 

 butfy beneath. Young : like female in winter, but colors duller and plum- 

 age looser; wings with rusty bands. Male: length (skins) 8.'25-U.30, wing 

 4..J0-4.60, tail ;i;}9-8.(io, bill .72-.78. Female: length (skins) 7.80-8.30, 

 wing 4.21-4.89, tail 8.11-8.80, bill .68-.75. 



Distribution. — Breeds in Boreal zone from Alaska and Hudson Bay 

 south to northern New York, New England, and Michigan, and west in the 

 United States to western Nebraska and Colorado ; migrates to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



Nest. — A bulky structure of dried twigs, shreds of bark, and mosses, 

 placed in bushes. Eggs : 2 to 8, pale bluish green, olive, or rusty brown, 

 speckled or blotched with brown. 



Food. — Preferably animal matter, including insects, especially beetles 

 and grasshoppers ; also grain and weed seed. 



The rusty blackbird is mainly a bird of the eastern states, but 

 occasionally goes as far west as the eastern slope of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Unlike most other blackbirds, it is fond of forests. 



510. Scolecophagus cyanocephalus (Wagl.). Brewer 

 Blackbird. 

 Adult male in summer. — Glossy greenish black, head and neck purplish 



black. Adult male in winter : similar 

 to summer male, but more highly 

 Adult female in summer: 

 head, neck, and under parts brown- 

 ^'^- "^^^" ish gray, faintly glossed with violet 



on head and neck and with green on under parts : upper parts darker, 

 wings and tail more glossed with bluish green. Adult female in icinter : 

 similar to siimmer female, but paler, more buffy gray anteriorly. Imma- 

 ture male in first winter : like adult male, but feathers largely tipped with 

 grayish brown. Young : like winter females, but feathers with different 

 texture and without gloss. Male: length (skins) 8.40-9.75, wing 4.78-.5.27, 

 tail 8.()2-4.22, bill ,83-.98. Female : length (skins) 7,80-8.70, wing 4,.56- 

 4.71, tail 3,43-8.0.5, bill .75-. 82. 



Distribution. — Transition and Upper Sonoran zone from Manitoba and 

 British Columbia south in the mountains to Lower California and Guate- 

 mala, and from northwestern Minnesota and Nebraska west to the Pacific. 

 Nest. — Low, in trees or buslies made of sticks, plant stalks, grass, 

 bark, and rootlets, generally cemented with earth or manure, and lined 

 with rootlets or hair. Eggs : usually 4 to (1, grayish or greenish ground 

 color, variably marked but usiially profusely blotched, streaked, and 

 spotted with browns and lavender. 



Food. — Largely grain, weed seed, and grasshoppers. 



The Brewer blackbird, whose glossy blue black coat makes him 

 one of the handsomest of his race, is the familiar dooryard blackbird 

 of the west. He often nests in oaks beside ranch houses, and lords 

 it over the barnyard fowls Avith great airs of proprietorship. 



Like all blackbirds he has mannerisms. When disturbed at the 

 nest he spreads his tail nervously and calls chack, and when sitting 



