AVERY BIRD COLLECTION 71 



114. MOLOTHRUS ATER ATER (Boddaert). 



COWBIRD. 



In a letter to the Editor of the "American Field," in 

 1884, Dr. Avery wrote : 



"This is the first of the Icteridae to appear here, com- 

 ing early in the Fall." (1884). 



In 1891 the following appeared : 



"Abundant. Resident from the middle of July till 

 April. This bird not having the care of rearing its 

 young as others, does not seem to tarry long in its north- 

 ern home." (1891a). 



No. 922. Male-hornot. Greensboro. Sept. 14, 1891. W. C. 

 Avery. 



No. 949. Male. Greensboro. Nov. 1, 1891. W. C. Avery. 



115. AGELAIUS PHCENICEUS PHCENICEUS (Linnaeus). 

 Florida Red-wing. 



The specimen listed below has been referred to the typ- 

 ical subspecies by Mr. Oberholser. 



No. 339. Male. Greensboro. Jan. 3, 1890. W. C. Avery. 



116. AGELAIUS PHCENICEUS PREDATORIUS (Wilson). 

 Red-winged Blackbird.* 



"May 28, 1889. Saw several pairs of red-wings, A. 

 phoeniceus (Linn.). Found two nests in the marsh north 

 of the Millwood road, on the Boiling Branch. One nest 

 was empty, the other contained a single bird. I could 

 not determine whether the empty nest had been just com- 

 pleted or whether the eggs had been hatched and the 

 young birds had left the nest. One of these nests was 

 three feet from the ground, the other over six. They 

 were bulky structures for so small a bird ; both built in 

 button-bushes {Cephalanthus occidentalis) . 



"Visited these nests again on the 31st, and found three 

 nests more in the same marsh. These last were on reeds 

 and in coarse grass, a foot or two from the ground ; one 

 of them contained two eggs and a yrtung bird just 

 hatched, the others contained nothing. One of the nests 

 found on the 28th, then empty, contained two eggs on 

 the 31st." (Original notes). 



♦Mearns, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash-., Vol. XXIV, pp. 226-227, 1911. 



