190 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



Trom Bodega Head to Chula Vista), to northwestern Baja California 



an Rafael Valley, El Rosario). 



Winter range. — Winters throughout its range in California (at 

 least north to Glen County) with winter specimens reported from 

 Baja California (El Rosario). 



Egg dates. — California: 304 records, April 1 to June 17; 200 records, 

 April 22 to May 20. 



AGELAIUS HUMERALIS (Vigors) 



Tawny- Shouldered Blackbird 

 HABITS 



This well-known Cuban species is entitled to a place in the A. O. U. 

 Check-List because of the capture of two specimens at Key West, 

 Fla., by William W. Demeritt (1936), who describes the interesting 

 event as follows: 



In the course of my bird banding operations there were trapped at my station 

 at Key West, Florida, two black birds, at the time unfamiliar to me. They 

 proved to be Tawny-shouldered Blackbirds (Agelaius humeralis (Vigors)) which 

 species is native to the island of Cuba, and has also been found on Haiti. These 

 individuals were taken on February 27, 1936, on the Key West Lighthouse Reser- 

 vation. They had been about for several days associated with Red-winged Black- 

 birds, of which there was a considerable number present at that time. They 

 were kept in captivity until April 7, when they were shipped alive to the Biological 

 Survey at Washington, D. C. There the previous tentative identification as 

 Agelaius humeralis was confirmed by Dr. Harry C. Oberholser of that Bureau. 

 They have been deposited as specimens in the Biological Survey collection in the 

 United States National Museum, as proof of the record. 



This is evidently a very common bird in Cuba, where it is known 

 as the Cuban redwing or mayito. Thomas Barbour (1923) says of it: 

 "The Mayitos abound in winter in great tame swarms, and haunt 

 dooryards and gardens, whispering and wheezing metallically, and 

 the volume of sound is very great. In the spring the males seek mates 

 and the pairs split off and nest in April and May. They build, on 

 palm fronds or on clumps of air plants, a nest of grass and Spanish 

 moss lined with hair and vegetable wool. Formerly they did great 

 damage in the rice fields, but today, beyond raising an unconscionable 

 racket, they are very pleasing and ornamental neighbors. 



"This is the black bird with tawny shoulder-marking and with the 

 female black also, but still having a shoulder patch, though less ex- 

 tended and often much invaded with black feathers." 



Wetmore and Swales (1931) say of its status in Haiti: 



The tawny-shouldered blackbird was unknown in Hispaniola until its discovery 

 near the mouth of the Artibonite River, a short distance from St. Marc, Haiti, in 



