168 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



AGELAIUS PHOENICEUS CAURINUS Ridgway 



Northwestern Redwing 

 HABITS 



Ridgway (1902) describes this redwing of the humid northwest 

 coast as "similar to A. p. phoeniceus but wing and bill longer, the latter 

 more slender; adult male with buff of middle wing-coverts deeper (deep 

 ochraceous-buff or ochraceous in winter plumage) ; adult female rather 

 more heavily streaked with black below and, in winter plumage, with 

 upper parts much more conspicuously marked with rusty." 



Comparing it with other California races, A. J. van Rossem (1926) 

 gives it the following diagnosis: "Bill longer and more slender than in 

 nevadensis or sonoriensis, and slightly different from either race in 

 shape. Adult males with middle wing coverts clear buff, unmarked 

 with black except in examples from northwestern California and 

 southwestern Oregon, where intergradation with mailliardorum has 

 left its impress. Females richly marked in strongly contrasting 

 colors, the plumage being suffused with buff and the feathers edged 

 with rich browns and buffs at the expense of gray tones; the scattered 

 feather edgings of the interscapular region usually light, contrasting 

 strongly with the rest of the plumage." 



The northwestern redwing, which seems to be nowhere especially 

 abundant, is mainly migratory, though a few spend the winter as far 

 north as western Washington. Its summer range extends from south- 

 western British Columbia to northwestern California, at least to 

 Humboldt Bay. Van Rossem (1926) says that it "winters much 

 farther south than is generally supposed. It is of common occurrence 

 in the San Francisco Bay district * * * and in the San Joaquin 

 Valley." 



I cannot find that it differs materially in its habits from the other 

 California races. 



DISTRIBUTION 



The range of the northwestern redwing lies west of the Coast 

 Ranges from British Columbia to California. It breeds along the 

 coast from southwestern British Columbia (Courtenay, Abbotsford) 

 to northwestern California (Eureka, Requa), and in land along the 

 lower Trinity River in California. It winters throughout its range 

 and south to central-western California (Palo Alto) and the Great 

 Valley of California (Gray Lodge State Game Refuge, Buena Vista 

 Lake). It is accidental in northern Sonora (Sonoyta). 



