A] 4. LAND BIRDS 
Breeding Range: Southeastern portion of State along Lower Colorado 
River. 
Breeding Season: April to June. 
Nest: Usually built in reeds or bushes, near the ground, and sometimes 
in a clump of grass ; made of rushes or sedges ; lined with finer grass. 
Eggs: 3 to 5; light blue, marbled, blotched, and clouded with light and 
dark purple and black. Size 1.00 X 0.75. 
499. BICOLORED BLACKBIRD. — Agelaius gubernator 
californicus. 
Famity: The Blackbirds, Orioles, ete. 
Length : Male 7.80-8.60 ; female 6.90-7.50. 
Adult Male: Plumage black, red shoulder patch; middle wing-coverts 
buffy or brownish at the base, but concealed by black tips. 
Adult Female: Nearly uniform dusky and streaked ; chin and throat 
pale buffy or pinkish, the latter marked with triangular spots of 
dusky. 
Geographical Distribution: Valleys of California and Western Oregon, 
south into Mexico. 
California Breeding Range: Locally in the interior valleys west of the 
Sierra Nevada. : 
Breeding Season: April to July. 
Nest: Placed on tufts of marsh grass or weeds, from 1 to 3 feet above 
the water; made of grasses and strips of bark; lined with grass and 
sometimes horsehair. 
Eggs: 2 to 4; light bluish green, generally marbled, spotted and streaked 
with brown, black, and purple. Size 1.00 X 0.68. 
Tue Bicolored Blackbird is similar in all his habits 
to the red-winged. His nest differs only in the bark 
and horsehair used in construction, and the shallower 
cup. Like all blackbirds, he loves wet meadows and 
marshes near open water, and during the breeding sea- 
son 1s found in these localities. For the rest of the year 
he roves in company with the Brewer blackbirds over 
the valleys of the interior west of the Sierra Nevada 
