BREWER'S BLACKBIRD 331 



of the foraging and roosting flocks is much greater in fall and winter. 



The young, when first beginning to fly freely but while still depend- 

 ing on the parents for at least some of their food, flock together with 

 other adults. These flocks soon associate with redwings and fall- 

 sojourning tri colored redwings. In large aggregations of the three 

 species the Brewer's are generally outnumbered by the other two 

 combined. 



Color-banded Brewer's were found to wander to places as far as 6 

 miles north, 4% miles east, 6 miles south, and 4 miles northwest of the 

 banding station at the mouth of the Carmel River. During the fall 

 and winter the diurnal rhythm mentioned under "Behavior" is no- 

 ticed, although it seems that not all birds follow this pattern rigidly. 



In fall and winter the color-banded birds of the river-mouth breed- 

 ing colony can be found at other colony areas, and birds that bred at 

 these other areas may also mix with the flock at the river mouth. 

 But there is always a nucleus of the locally breeding birds to be found 

 at the colony. 



In the months of September and October, and occasionally in 

 November, at the river-mouth colony, there is a mild recrudescence 

 of what I have called pairing behavior (see "Spring" and "Courtship," 

 above). There are instances of temporary segregation into pairs, 

 walking and flying about together (the female generally leading in 

 flights); mutual display; occasional displacement by the male of 

 another male alighting near the female; and occasional darts and 

 chases. Three females which had bred in the colony the preceding 

 spring made one trip each with nesting material to the vicinity of their 

 former nest sites (September 25, and October 5, 1945, and September 

 14, 1947). With but a few exceptions these cases of pairing behavior 

 involved individuals that had been paired the previous spring, and 

 some that had remated for two or more of the preceeding breeding 

 seasons. However, most of these pairing performances were not of 

 long duration, and on many days of observation none at all was seen. 

 As compared to spring the activities never seemed as fully developed, 

 and on days that they were observed fewer pairs were engaged in them. 



For much of the fall and winter season pairs of the previous spring, 

 or those which had remated for one or more of the preceeding seasons, 

 might not even be seen in the same flock. When they did appear in 

 the same flock, they did not behave as a pair, except on the occasions 

 of "recrudescence," as mentioned. Probably, therefore, it should be 

 stated that even though the pairs remate on successive seasons, they 

 do not maintain a pair bond continuously through the nonbreeding 

 season. However, since the re-pairing of the male and JuY primary 

 female in successive breeding seasons js more than a matterof chance 

 (42 out of 45 possible cases), it might be stated that a true pair bond 



