ICTERID^ 



249 



BI-COLORED 



Agelaius gubernator 



A. O. U. N 



Other Name. — Ili-colorcd lUackbinl. 



General Description. — LciiKtIi, 8; .. inches. Males 

 arc black with red shoulders ; females are sooty-brown 

 streaked with whitish. Hill, shorter than head ; wings, 

 rather long and pointed ; tail, three-quarters or more 

 as long as wing, and rounded. 



Color.^ Adult M.m.e: Uniform deep l)lack, with a 

 faint bluish-green gloss in certain lights ; h-sscr ■w'uiti- 

 covcrls rich /'o/'/'v-rrrf or vermilion ; middle coverts 

 black, or (if not entirely black) at least broadly tipped 

 with black, the basal portion tawny-bulT or ochraccous ; 

 iris, brown. Adult 1•"E.M.^LE: Dark sooty-brown, the 



RED-WING 

 californicus Nelson 



umber 499 



hack, crown, chin and tlnoat streaked (usually broadly) 

 with wdiitisli, bulT, or pinkisli, the region over the eye 

 streaked with tlie same, producing a stripe. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In low bushes or flags, 

 along nnming ^treams or in swamps; similar in con- 

 struction to 'i'ri-colored Red-wing's. Eggs: 4 or S, 

 light l)Iuish-white, marked around large end with dark 

 brown lines and spots. 



Distribution. — Nortliern and central coast district 

 of California and northward to coast of Washington 

 ( Ca|)e Disappointment); migrating or straggling east- 

 ward and southward in the same States. 



TRI-COLORED RED-WING 



Agelaius tricolor (.■liuliiboii) 



\. O. U. Number 500 



Other Names. — 'l"ri-colored Blackbird; Tri-colored 

 Oriole. 



General Description. — Length, 8'/z inches. Males 

 are black witli reil and white on wings ; females are 

 lirownish-gray streaked with whitish and dusky. 



Color. — AuuLT M.\le: Uniform glossy blue-black, 

 the jilumage with a silky luster ; lesser ix^ing-covcrts dull 

 crimson; middle coverts Zi'hile, in abrupt and conspicu- 

 ous contrast; iris, brown. Adult Female: Above, 

 dusky, the plumage with a strong bronzy luster in 

 certain lights ; crown, narrowly streaked with brownish- 

 gray, most distinctly along the center, wdiere, however, 

 not forming a stripe ; shoulders, with light brownish- 

 gray edgings to inner webs ; lesser wing coverts broadly 

 margined with brownish-gray ; middle coverts, abruptly 

 margined with white or white and gray; greater coverts, 

 secondaries, innermost primaries, and tail-feathers 

 narrowly edged with light brownish-gray ; outermost 



Iirimaries narrowly edged with white; stripes over eye 

 and on the cheeks of pale brownish-gray narrowly 

 streaked with dusky ; space between these lighter-colored 

 stripes nearly uniform dark brownish-gray; chin and 

 throat, pale grayisli-buffy, the latter streaked with dusky, 

 especially along sides ; chest, streaked with dusky and 

 pale grayish-buffy in about etpial amount; rest of under 

 parts, dusky with paler margins to feathers, these most 

 distinct on breast; iris, browiL 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In alders, willows, and 

 tules; constructed of straw, mud, and coarse sedge- 

 grass, lined with finer similar material. Eggs : 4 or 5, 

 light blue, somewhat deeper than the Eastern Red- 

 wing's, marked with a circle of gray-brown around 

 large end and with black erratic lines and spots. 



Distribution. — Valleys of California, northern Lower 

 California, and southwestern Oregon. More common 

 along coast and almost non-migratory. 



There are several members of tlie Red-wing 

 family and some one or more are found through- 

 out North America from Mackenzie south to 

 Costa Rica. The head of the family hears the 

 family name Red-wing. The others are : The 

 Sonora Red-wing [Agclauis pho'iiiceiis sonori- 

 ciisis), found in southern California and south- 

 ern .\rizona; the Bahaina Red-wing (Agelaius 

 phccnlccus bryaiiti), distributed over the south- 

 eastern coast of Florida, Florida Keys to Key 

 West, and the Bahamas ; the Florida Red-wing 

 (Agelaius phocniceus flnridanus), found in Flor- 

 ida (except the .southeastern coast and ke}-s ) ;md 

 west along the Gulf coast to Texas; the Thick- 

 billed Red-wing (Agelaius phccniceus fortis), 

 central North America, from Mackenzie and 

 southern Keewatin sotith to northeastern Col- 

 orado and northern Texas and waitdering east- 

 ward occasionally ; the San Diego Red-wing 

 (Agelaius phccniceus neiifralis), breeding from 

 eastern British Columbia south to Lower Cali- 



fornia, New Mexico, and western Texas ; the 

 Northwestern Red-wing (Agelaius pha-niccus 

 caurinus), found along the Pacific coast from 

 Briti.sh Columbia to Mendocino county, Cali- 

 fornia ; and the Vera Cruz Red-wing ( Agelaius 

 phivniccus ricliuiondi), distributed along the 

 southern coast and through -the lower Rio Grande 

 valley of Texas south through eastern Mexico 

 to Central America. 



Swamps, morasses and bogs are not consid- 

 ered very cheerful places, but a veritable Slough 

 of Despond would lose its gloom in the presence 

 of one of these feathered optimists with his sleek 

 black jacket and smart red epaulets, and his per- 

 sistent and jolly o-ka-lee. And such are the 

 places the Red-wing loves, and in which it may 

 always be found during the summer months, in 

 the northern reaches of his range. Usually it 

 breeds in large colonies, but single families — a 

 male with several wives — are sometimes found 

 in a siTiall slough. Under this social condition 



