THE CALIFORNIA BICOLORED BLACKBIRD. 53 



ci.'iner had iiut yet learned to feed himself. l)ut on!}- opened his niouth 

 and called with childish insistence. Judge of the owner's delight, and mine 

 as a witness, when the older bird, liimself little more than a tiedgeling, liegan 

 to feed the orphan with all the tender solicitude of a parent. It was 

 irresistilil}- cunning and heartsome too. for the liird to select with thoughtful, 

 brotherly kindness, a morsel of food, and hop over toward the clamoring 

 stranger and drop it into his mouth ; after this to stand back as if to sav. 

 "There, baby! how did you like that?" This trait was not shown bv a 

 chance exhibition alone, l>ut became a regular habit, which was still fol- 

 lowed when the older bird had attained to fly-catching. It upset all one's 

 notious about instinct, and made one think of a golden rule for birds. 



No. 18. 



CALIFORNIAN BICOLORED BLACKBIRD. 



A. O. v. No. 499. Agelaiiis giibernator californicus Xelson. 



Description. — .Idiilt male: "Lhiiform deep black, with a faint bluish green 

 gloss in certain lights : lesser wing-coverts rich poppy red or vermilion ; muldle 

 coverts black, or (if not entirely black) at least broadly tipped with black, the 

 basal portion tawny buff or ochraceous ; bill, legs, and feet black: iris brown" 

 (Ridgway). Aditlt female in breeding plumage: Dark sooty brown more or less 

 streaked on crown and back ; chin and throat whitish or pinkish buff streaked with 

 brown ; faint superciliary stripe composed of narrow whitish streaks on sooty 

 ground. Adult female in ivinter: Feathers more or less edged with rusty. 

 Immature male: Lesser wing-coverts partly black, the remaining red not clear, 

 ochraceous-rufous or orange-tawny. Length of adult male: (skins) 8.62 (219) ; 

 wing 5.78 (136.9); tail 3.67 (93.2); bill .84 (21.3); tarsus 1.28 (32.5). Adult 

 female 6.93 (176) ; wing 4.27 (108.5) : tail 2.82 (71.61 : bill .■/2 ( 18.3) : tarsus 

 I. ID (27,9). 



Recognition Marks. — Like Redwing Blackljird but epaulets pure red with- 

 out exposed buff. 



Nesting. — Nest and Eggs like those of the Northwestern Red-wing. Said 

 to be less proliTic. 



General Range. — Centra! and northern coast districts of California north 

 to Washington; straggles irregularly eastward and southward in California in 

 winter. 



Range in Washington. — Recorded breeding at Cape Disappointment and 

 may possibly extend north to Gray's Harbor. 



Authorities. — Agelaius giibernator Bonaparte, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. 

 IX. 1858, p. 530 (Columbia River by J. K. Townsend). Allen, B, N. C). C. VI. 

 p. 128. R. H. Lawrence, Auk IX. 1892, 45. Kobbe. 



