246 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



RED-EYED COWBIRD 



Tangavius asneus involucratus Lesson 



A. O. U. Number 496 



General Description. — Length, 8K' inches. Plum- 

 age, black, dull in the female and silky in the male. 

 Bill, shorter than head, stout, and conical ; wings, 

 moderately long and pointed; tail about two-thirds 

 length of wing, slightly rounded, and the feathers 

 broadest at the tips. 



Color. — Adult Male: A conspicuous erectile ruff 

 on sides of neck; head, neck, and body, dark greenish- 

 bronzy, the plumage soft and silky but not smooth, 

 presenting the appearance of having been wet and 

 imperfectly dried; tail-coverts, blue-black, the upper 

 ones glossed with violet ; wings, glossy dark greenish- 

 blue, brightest on greater coverts, and inner wing quills 

 less bright, as well as more greenish ; on primaries, 

 primary coverts, lesser wing-coverts, dark metallic- 

 violet, the middle coverts violet-bluish ; tail, dark 

 metallic bluish-green or greenish-blue ; iris, red. Adult 



Fem.^le : Dull black, the under parts, especially throat, 

 sometimes dark sooty-brownish ; back and shoulders 

 very faintly, the wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail 

 strongly, glossed with bluish-green ; neck ruffs much 

 less developed than in the male. Young Male: Dull 

 sooty black or dark sooty, the feathers of the under 

 parts of the body with narrow margins of paler. 

 Young Female: Paler and grayer than the young 

 male ; above sepia or grayish-sepia, beneath paler and 

 grayer with indistinct paler narrow inargins to the 

 feathers. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Builds no nest, laying eggs 

 in other birds' nests. Eggs: Plain bluish-green with- 

 out spots. 



Distribution. — Southern Texas (breeding north to 

 San Antonio), through eastern Mexico, and Central 

 America (to Isthmus of Panama?). 



The Red-eyed Cowbird is a handsomer bird 

 than that feathered wretch, the Cowbird. The 

 male, with his red eyes and glistening black coat, 

 and his neck ruff elevated, makes quite an im- 

 posing appearance. The coloration of the female 

 is duller than that of the male, btit this fine ap- 

 parel has no effect upon the bird's habits, which 



ajjparently are as reprehensible as those of her 

 northern relative. 



A close relative, the Bronzed Cowbird {Tan- 

 gavuis ccneus ccneiis), lives in Mexico but 

 wanders over the international boundary into 

 Arizona. His reputation is just as shady as that 

 of the rest of his family. 



YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD 



Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus ( Bonaparte) 



A. O. U. Number 497 



Other Name. — Copperhead. 



General Description. — Length, lo inches. Males 

 are black with yellow fore parts ; females are grayish- 

 brown. Bill, decidedly shorter than head ; wings, long 

 and pointed; tail, over ;,; length of wing, slightly 

 rounded, the feathers rather hard and stiff. 



Color. — Adult Male: Head, neck, and chest, yel- 

 toiv or orange; lores, eye region, forward portion of 

 cheeks and chin, black; rest of plumage, uniform black, 

 relieved by a white patch on the wing, involving the 

 primary coverts (except their tips and shafts) atid por- 

 tions of the outermost greater coverts ; anal region, 

 yellow or orange ; iris, brown. Adult Female : Gen- 

 eral color, dusky grayish-brown or sooty ; no white on 

 wings ; a stripe over eye, cheeks, chin, and throat, dull 

 whitish, usually tinged with yellow, passing into light 

 yellow on chest; breast broadly streaked with white; 

 ana! tuft yellowish; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Fastened to tule stems 



from one to three feet above water; woven of sedge- 

 grass, rather compact, bulky, thick-edged, and lined 

 with finer blades ; breeds in colonies, usually in center 

 of large marshes. Eggs: 3 to 6. usually 4, grayish or 

 greenish-white thickly and evenly spotted and blotched 

 with drab, umber, and purplish-brown. 



Distribution. — More open districts of western and 

 central North Atnerica ; north to southern British 

 Columbia, Assiniboia, Athabasca, Keewatin (to about 

 58° 30'). and Manitoba; breeding east to the prairie 

 sloughs of the upper Mississippi valley, as far as north- 

 eastern Illinois, northwestern Indiana, southwestern 

 Michigan ( ?), southern Wisconsin, etc. ; breeding south- 

 ward to Arizona, New Mexico, probably to northern 

 Mexico in general; in winter southward over greater 

 part of Mexico; accidental straggler to Ontario, Quebec, 

 Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, West 

 Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, South Caro- 

 lina, Florida, Cuba, and even to Greenland. 



