248 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 



Agelaius phoeniceus phcjeniceus {Linncrits) 



A. O. U. Number 498 See Color Plate 73 



Other Names. — Swamp Blackbird ; Retl-winged 

 Starlinp; ; Red-shouldered Starling; Red-shouldered 

 Blackbird : Marsh Blackbird : Red-winged Oriole ; Red- 

 wing. 



General Description. — Length, 8^ inches. Males 

 are black with red shoulders ; females are dusky above 

 and whitish below with streaks of dusky. Bill, shorter 

 than head; wings, rather long and pointed; tail, }i or 

 more as long as wing, and rounded. 



Color. — Adult M.\le: Uniform deep black with a 

 very faint greenish-blue gloss in certain lights ; lesser 

 ■wing-coverts, bright vermilion (varying to scarlet or 

 even, more rarely, to orange-chrome) ; middle coverts, 

 zvholly huff (paler at tips, sometimes almost white in 

 midsummer birds); iris, brown. Adult Female: 

 Above, dusky, varied with paler streaks and edgings ; 

 crown with center stripe of pale bufFy-grayish, the 

 dusky broad lateral stripes streaked with pale bufify 

 or grayish ; shoulders, edged on inner webs with pale 

 huffy-grayish, on outer webs with rusty; secondaries, 

 innermost primaries, tail-feathers, and primary coverts 

 narrowly edged with pale grayish or buffy-grayish, 

 the upper tail-coverts margined with the same ; greater 

 coverts and outermost primaries edged with dull 

 whitish ; lesser coverts broadly margined with brownish- 

 gray or red, or both (often extensively red) ; middle 



coverts, black, broadly margined terminally with white 

 or pale buffy ; a broad white stripe over eye, finely 

 streaked with dusky, usually becoming buff or salmon 

 color over and in front of eye; a broad stripe of dusky 

 behind the eye ; cheeks and under parts, dull white 

 (the chin, throat, and cheeks often buff or salmon-pink'), 

 the under parts of the body broadly streaked with dusky 

 (sometimes almost black), these stripes broadest on 

 flanks ; under tail-coverts, dusky margined with white 

 or pale buffy ; chin and throat sometimes immaculate, 

 but the latter usually marked with small wedge-shaped 

 or triangular streaks of dusky, the sides of the throat 

 margined by a dusky stripe below cheek. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In bushes or small trees, 

 but usually in reeds which are interwoven between the 

 outside layer of sedge-grass of which the nest is com- 

 posed; sometimes in the center of a tussock close to 

 the ground, but usually two or three feet above it, and 

 always in swampy places. Eggs : 3 to 6, usually 5, 

 pale bluish or greenish-white, marked with pen lines 

 of sepia or dark reddish-brown, arranged in a wreath 

 around large end or scattered over entire surface. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States and more 

 southern British Provinces to about latitude 62°, except 

 Florida and Gulf coast; west to eastern base of Rocky 

 Mountains. 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



RED- WINGED BLACKBIRD ( i nat. size) 

 A feathered optimist of bogland 



