BIRD NOTES AFIELD 



Head all around blue, except throat which is white, streaked with pale 

 gray. A bird of the high Sierras, more common on the eastern slope. 



THE BLACKBIRD, ORIOLE AND STARLING FAMILY 



Birds of moderate size (generally larger than a sparrow and smaller 

 than a pigeon) with sharp, cutting bills and usually strongly marked 

 coloration in the males. 



97. Yellow-headed Blackbird; Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus 

 (Bonap.). 



Head all around and breast bright yellow; in fuU-plumaged males 

 the yellow sometimes wanting or obscure on head. Wing-patch white, 

 the rest of the body black. Female brown, with dull yellow throat- 

 patch. Length of male ten inches or more, female smaller. Common in 

 restricted marshy regions, both in the interior valleys and in the moun- 

 tains. 



98. San Diego Red-winged Blackbird; Agelaius phoeniceus 

 neutralis (Linn.). 



The male black, strikingly ornamented with scarlet shoulder patch. 

 This is bordered with a buffy or pale brownish band. The female 

 streaked brownish and white. Length about eight and a half inches. 

 Breeds on the eastern slope of the Sierras and in Southern California. 

 Another race form, the Northwestern Redwing, inhabits the coast dis- 

 trict of Oregon, and the northern coast valleys of California. 



99. Bi-colored Blackbird; Agelaius gubernator calif ormcus 

 Nelson. 



Almost identical with the preceding, but the buff border to the 

 epaulets narrow or obscure. The common red-winged blackbird of 

 Cahfornia, breeding in great numbers in marshy places. 



100. Tri-colored Blackbird; Agelaius tricolor (Nutt.). 

 Similar to the preceding, but black more glossy bluish. The red 



shoulder patch is of a deeper carmine hue and bordered with white. In 

 winter the back is mottled with brown and the white of the shoulders 

 becomes buff. An inhabitant of the valleys of California. 



101. Western Meadowlark; Sturnella magna neglecta (Aud.). 

 Back mottled and streaked gray, brown and buff; a paler line down 



the top of head and lines over the eyes. Below yellow, with a black 

 crescent on breast. Sides gray, streaked with brown. Very common 

 and widely distributed. Length over ten inches ; bill long and sharp. 



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