BICOLORED REDWING 171 



Bill similar in shape and size to Agelaius phoeniceus neutralis, but males with 

 exposed portions of middle wing coverts more extensively black, rarely clear buff, 

 sometimes entirely black, but usually with a small amount of buff visible, par- 

 ticularly on distal middle coverts. Females averaging much darker throughout 

 and less streaked (more blackish) below. Differs from Agelaius phoeniceus 

 mailliardorum in much heavier bill in both sexes. Males with longer tails, and with 

 middle wing coverts less frequently entirely black. Females with slightly shorter 

 wings, under parts usually more streaked, and coloration paler throughout. * * * 

 Range — Tejon Pass, in extreme northwestern Los Angeles County, north through 

 the San Joaquin-Sacramento Valley to about 4 miles south of Red Bluff, Tehama 

 County, Calif. East in suitable localities into the Sierra Nevada foothills; west 

 to the eastern slopes of the inner coast ranges and to, but not including Suisun Bay. 



The specimen figured by Audubon (1842) was supposed to have been 

 taken on the Columbia River, but this is far beyond its present known 

 range; if the locality is correctly given, it must have been a straggler. 



Courtship. — Grinnell and Storer (1924) describe the courtship 

 performance as differing only slightly from that described for the 

 eastern redwing: 



As soon as the flocks begin to break up, the males commence courting and their 

 displays are carried on with little cessation from daylight to dark throughout the 

 nesting season. For this they seek some open situation, never far from the favorite 

 swampy haunts. The male lowers and opens his tail in wide fan shape, spreads 

 and droops his wings until the tips reach to or below his feet, raises his red wing 

 patches outward and forward like a pair of flaming brands, and having swelled 

 out as large as possible, utters his curious throaty song, tong-leur-lee. Usually this 

 is done while he is perched; less often he mounts into the air and flies slowly over 

 a circling course without departing far from the object of his attention. 



Nesting. — Of the nesting sites chosen by the bicolored blackbird 

 in the Fresno district, John G. Tyler (1913) writes: 



Almost every clump of tules in the various sinks and ponds is made use of by 

 nesting blackbirds, while in many instances a colony will take possession of a grain 

 field, building tneir light, basket like structures amid the swaying wheat or barley 

 stalks, from six inches to two feet above the ground. 



Not infrequently this species departs from the usual customs that have been 

 followed for so long, and nests in treetops. One such colony found May 25, 1906, 

 was occupying some willows along a canal, one nest was fully thirty feet from the 

 ground and resembled a kingbird's home, except that several long streamers of 

 dry tule strips were left dangling and swaying in the breeze, making the nest very 

 conspicuous. That this site was chosen from preference and not from necessity 

 was clearly evident, as there was a growth of tules all along the edge of the canal, 

 and a half section of wheat adjoining. Another colony chose nesting sites among the 

 thick foliage of a long row of fig trees, the nests being situated from twelve to 

 twenty feet above the ground. In driving along the road after the leaves had 

 fallen from the trees I counted eighteen nests in a short section of the row. Almost 

 under these trees was a small ditch in which water stood nearly all summer, and 

 which was partly concealed by willows, tules, and sedges; but perhaps the close 

 proximity of a schoolhouse had taught the birds to elevate their nests and conceal 

 them as well. 



