156 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



possibly reach the far shore. As a matter of fact, it fell into the water 

 before it had gone 20 feet. Immediately, it turned back toward the 

 shore it had just left and, disregarding my presence (although mj^ 

 approach had been the occasion of its flight), fluttered to safety along 

 the surface of the water. It seemed to travel in a sitting posture on 

 the water with the forward part of the body held high and the wings 

 beating the surface without seeming to submerge. When it regained 

 the shore at my feet, it was not bedraggled — appeared to be perfectly 

 dry — and seemed none the worse for its experience." 



Fall.— Weston writes in his notes: "By the end of October, the 

 redwings resort to the high lands in large flocks during the day, 

 although they always return to the marshes in the late afternoon to 

 pass the night. At this season, too, they can often be found among 

 the sand dunes along the Gulf beaches, where they feed on the seeds 

 of the sea oats (Uniola paniculata) — the birds perch on the swaying 

 stalks and pick the seeds from the ripened 'heads.' Their fondness 

 for the seeds of the long-leaf yellow pine (Pinus palustris) seems not 

 to be generally known. My notes for October 31, 1943, recount my 

 discovery of this preference: 



"I have often noticed flocks of redwings in the pine woods in fall, 

 but not until today have I been able to get near enough to find what 

 the attraction was. Today, I succeeded in driving my car almost 

 under a pine tree in which a flock of about a hundred buds was very 

 active. Certainly, the birds were eating the pine seeds, though I 

 could not see just how they extracted them from the cones — seed 

 'wings' were raining down around and upon the car as long as the 

 birds were in the tree." 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — The Gulf coast redwing is resident in southeastern Texas 

 (Brenham, Galveston) ; southern Louisiana (north, at least, to Crow- 

 ley, Clinton), central western and southern Mississippi (Saucier, 

 Vicksburg), southern Alabama (Mobile), and northwestern Florida 

 (Pensacola Bay, Whitfield). 



Casual records. — Casual farther west in Texas (Tivoli, Eagle 

 Lake). 



