TRICOLORED REDWING 185 



He does not describe the young male in first winter plumage, but 

 Dawson (1923) describes the young male in his first spring as "like 

 adult, but lesser wing-coverts tawny or brownish red, variously 

 admixed with black; the middle coverts wholly black, or variously 

 mixed black and white." 



After the first complete postnuptial molt, young birds become 

 indistinguishable from adults. Ridgway says that the adult male in 

 winter is "similar to the summer male, but plumage still softer and 

 more glossy and middle wing-coverts more or less tinged with brownish 

 buff." 



The adult male in summer he describes as "uniform glossy blue- 

 black, the plumage with a silky luster; lesser wing-coverts brownish 

 carmine or dull crimson; middle coverts white, in abrupt and con- 

 spicuous contrast." The adult female in winter is "similar to the 

 summer female, but plumage softer, more glossy, and of a more grayish 

 cast, with pale (light buffy grayish) margins to feathers of lower parts 

 much broader." 



Dawson (1923) describes the adult female in spring as — 



Similar to that of Agelaius phoeniceus, but more uniform in coloration and much 

 darker; above sooty black, nearly uniform, from back posteriorly, but with some 

 obscure skirtings of brownish gray on head and nape; below sooty black, nearly 

 uniform from breast posteriorly, although with faint skirtings of lighter, or 

 whitish — these skirtings sharply defined on lower tail-coverts; breast mingled 

 black and whitish in about equal proportions, clearing anteriorly to white, 

 sparingly flecked with black on throat; an obscure whitish line over eye; lateral 

 coloration throughout blending the characters of upper and lower plumage; a dull 

 ruddy element often present in the whites, and (in older examples ?) the lesser 

 wing-coverts more or less skirted with dark red. 



Food. — Beal (1910) examined the stomachs of 16 tricolored red- 

 wings, of which he says: "From the examination of so small a number, 

 final data on the food can not be obtained, but so far as the testimony 

 goes, it indicates that both species (phoeniceus and tricolor) consume 

 more insects and less grain than the bicolored. The stomachs of the 

 tricolored contain 79 percent of animal matter to 21 of vegetable. 

 The animal matter consists mostly of beetles and caterpillars, with a 

 decided preponderance of caterpillars. The vegetable food is nearly 

 all weed seed. One stomach alone contained barley." 



Mailliard (1914) tells a slightly different story: 



By the time incubation was completed in the majority of nests and vast numbers 

 of young beaks were opening wide for needed nourishment, the barley in the 

 neighborhood was just reaching the pulpy stage, being "in the milk," as it is 

 called, when the kernels of grain are much relished by the redwings on their own 

 account and much prized as food for the young. Hence a large amount of damage 

 is done by these birds when the grain is in this state, and this keeps up even when 

 the grain becomes quite hard. But, while thousands of the redwings were 

 visiting the barley fields, as many more were bringing in grasshoppers, cutworms, 



