FLORIDA REDWING 151 



AGELAIUS PHOENICEUS MEARNSI Howell and van Rossem 



Florida Redwing 

 HABITS 



Some confusion has existed in the past and some differences of opin- 

 ion have been expressed as to the proper nomenclature to be applied to 

 the redwings of the eastern United States and as to the distribution of 

 the subspecies. This need not be discussed here, as it is fully explained 

 in a study of the redwings of the southeastern United States by 

 Arthur H. Howell and Adriaan J. van Rossem (1928). They demon- 

 strate that the old name for the Florida redwing, A. p. floridanus, 

 should be restricted to the birds of extreme southern Florida, that the 

 eastern redwing (A. p. phoeniceus) breeds as far south as Gainesville 

 in northern Florida, and they propose the above scientific name for the 

 redwings that breed over the greater part of the Florida peninsula. 



In describing this new race, named in honor of Edgar A. Mearns, 

 they assign to it the following subspecific characters: 



Compared with phoeniceus: Size smaller; bill longer and more slender, both 

 actually and relatively; coloration of upper parts in females more brownish (less 

 blackish); under parts more buffy (less whitish), the dark streaks more brownish. 

 * * * In the present race, the maximum brownish suffusion found in Agelaius 

 phoeniceus is attained; this character at once distinguishes mearnsi from all the 

 Other races occupying the Caribbean area (bryanti, floridanus, littoralis, mega- 

 polamus, and richmondi). 



Specimens from the Gulf Coast of Florida, particularly from the northern 

 portion, have somewhat thicker bills than those from central and eastern Florida, 

 thus indicating a gradual approach in this character to littoralis of the western 

 Gulf Coast. Specimens from the Caloosahatchee Valley, (Alva and Ft. Myers) 

 show approach in paler coloration to floridanus, of south Florida. 



Breeding material is lacking from the lower St. Johns Valley, hence the area of 

 intergradation with phoeniceus is not definitely known; quite probably this race 

 will be found to range northward nearly or quite to Jacksonville. 



They give the range of mearnsi as the "greater part of the Florida 

 peninsula, south to the lower Kissimmee Valley and the Caloosahatchee 

 River; north at least to Putnam County (San Mateo) and Anastasia 

 Island; west on the Gulf coast to Apalachicola." 



All through such parts of central Florida, within the limits named 

 above, as I have visited, and these include most of the State, we have 

 always found this redwing to be an abundant resident bird in all suit- 

 able places — around ponds, marshes, sawgrass sloughs, wet places in 

 the flat pine woods, or open grassy savannas where there is sufficient 

 moisture. During the two winters that I spent at Pass-a-Grille, 

 Pinellas County, it was a common dooryard bird. A. H. Howell 



380928—57 11 



