RED-EYED BRONZED COWBIRD 463 



male are as follows: The juvenal plumage is "dull sooty black or dark 

 sooty, the feathers of the underparts of the body with more or less 

 distinct narrow margins of paler; mandible brownish basally." The 

 first winter plumage, acquired by a complete post juvenal molt, is 

 "dull black, the underparts, especially the throat sometimes dark 

 sooty brownish; back and scapulars very faintly, the wings, upper tail 

 coverts and tail strongly, glossed with bluish green; bill, legs and feet 

 black. Young males in this plumage are similar to adult females. 



"First Nuptial Plumage acquired by wear which shows very little, 

 and to a slight extent by molt involving the head and neck and breast. 

 Plumage similar to the first winter plumage but the head, neck, and 

 breast dull bronzy." 



The adult winter plumage is acquired by a complete postnuptial 

 molt; in this the head, neck and body are "greenish bronze, rump like 

 the back, the plumage soft and silky but not as smooth as in T. a. 

 aeneus; 'presenting the appearance of having been wet and imper- 

 fectly dried' (Kidgway) ; tail coverts blue-black, the upper ones glossed 

 with violet; wing coverts glossy dark greenish blue, brightest on greater 

 coverts and tertials, less bright as well as more greenish on primaries, 

 primary coverts and alula; lesser wing coverts dark metallic violet, 

 the middle coverts violet-bluish; tail dark metallic bluish-green or 

 greenish-blue; bill black; iris red; legs and feet black or blackish 

 brown." 



The adult nuptial plumage is acquired by wear and is only slightly 

 brighter. 



In the female the molts are the same as in the male. The juvenal 

 plumage is similar to that of the male but paler and grayer, "above 

 sepia or grayish sepia; beneath paler and grayer, with indistinct nar- 

 row paler margins to the feathers." The first winter plumage is "dull 

 black, the underparts, especially the throat sometimes dark sooty 

 brown ; back and scapulars very faintly, the wings, upper tail converts 

 and tail strongly, glossed with bluish-green; neck ruffs much less de- 

 veloped than in the male. The female of this race is much darker 

 than that of T. a. aeneus." Adults and young are practically alike in 

 winter plumage. 



Food. — Friedmann (1929) writes: 



As far as my observations go, the Red-eyed Cowbird is entirely graminivorous 

 in its food habits but I feel that more extensive data would show it to feed upon 

 insects as well. The gizzards of some twenty-odd specimens collected during 

 May, 1924, near Brownsville, Texas, contained only weed seeds and a few oats. 

 The oats were undoubtedly picked up in the cavalry stable yards at Fort Brown. 

 As many as 1,500 small grass seeds were found in a single stomach and most of the 

 birds examined had consumed large numbers of these seeds. From this it may be 

 judged that the species is highly beneficial in its food habits although its activities 



