154 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



the birds are forced to build exceedingly compact structures or they would be 

 blown to pieces. The nests are therefore made of the leaves of the coarse saw 

 grass which abounds, neatly and firmly woven together. The swaying motion to 

 which their domiciles are constantly subjected, has a tendency to throw the eggs 

 out, and would, were it not that the birds who have doubtless been taught by the 

 experience of former generations, build their nests very deep and, not content 

 with this, they make them more secure by contracting the entrance so much that 

 it is impossible for the eggs to fall out, even when the grass bends so that the tops 

 touch the water. * * * 



May first of that same season found me standing on one of the small outer keys, 

 about a hundred miles south of the point last described. This islet, like 

 many others, contained a small lagoon in the center, around which was a belt of 

 land that supported a number of trees, mainly the kinds known as Buttonwood 

 and Mangrove. There were a large number of Red-winged Blackbirds breeding 

 on this Key but I was puzzled to find the nests, for I could not see them in the 

 trees and there were no bushes or grass. After watching them attentively for a 

 few moments, I saw a female emerge from a small hole in a Buttonwood tree not 

 far from the ground, and climbing up to it discovered the nest which was built like 

 that of a Blue Bird. I afterward found several in similar places all containing 

 eggs. For a time I could not understand why the birds had chosen these novel 

 situations for homes, but the ha-ha of a passing group of Fish Crows helped to 

 enlighten me, for I knew that the predatory habits of this latter named species 

 renders the eggs of all birds unsafe if exposed, unless the owners are sufficiently 

 strong to protect them, and what the Red-wings lacked in strength they made up 

 in cunning, as they placed their treasures where it was impossible for their enemies 

 to get at them. 



Howell (1932) says: "In the Everglades near Royal Palm Ham- 

 mock, June 12, 1918, I found nests with eggs and young in a saw-grass 

 marsh and in low bushes." Earle R. Greene (1946) found a nest, with 

 one egg on July 24, 1942, on Boca Chica Key, that was 6 feet up in a 

 mangrove bush. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Maynard's redwing is resident in southern Florida (Everglades, 

 Miami, Key West). 



