BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 261 



c. Head and neck all around seal-brown .... 495. COWBIRD $ . 



d. Nape buffy, rump whitish 494. BOBOLINK $ . 



III. Under parts grayish, slate-color, chestnut, or buffy. 



A. Under parts grayish or slate-color. 



a. Under parts grayish ; bill tinchlike ; wing under 4-00. 



495. COWBIRD 9 . 



b. Under parts and upper parts slate-color, the feathers sometimes 

 tipped with brownish 509. RUSTY BLACKBIRD 9 . 



J5. Under parts buffy or chestnut. 



a. Under parts buffy, generally with a few black streaks. 



494. BOBOLINK 9 . 



b. Under parts buffy, without black streaks ; tail about 5-00. 



513. BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE 9 . 



c. Under parts chestnut; throat black. 



506. ORCHARD ORIOLE ( $ ad.). 



IV. Under parts black and white, or black tipped or mar- 



gined with rusty. 



a. Under parts streaked black and white, or black tipped with white; 



shoulder generally red or reddish. 



498. RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD ( 9 and im.). 

 4986. FLORIDA REDWING ( 9 and im.). 



b. Upper parts and under parts tipped with rusty. 



509. RUSTY BLACKBIRD (im.). 



c. Nape buffy, rump whitish 494. BOBOLINK $ . 



494. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linn.). BOBOLINK; REEDBIRD ; 

 RICEBIRD. Ad. $ , breeding plumage. Top and sides of the head and under 

 parts black, the feathers more or less tipped with a narrow whitish or cream- 

 butf fringe, which wears off as the season advances; back of the neck with a 

 large yellowish cream-buff patch ; middle of back generally streaked with 

 cream-buff; scapulars, lower back, and upper tail-coverts soiled grayish 

 white ; wings and tail black ; tail-feathers with pointed tips / bill blue-black. 

 Ad. 9 . Upper parts olive-buff, streaked with black ; crown blackish, with a 

 central stripe of olive buff; nape finely spotted and back broadly streaked 

 with black ; wings and tail brownish fuscous ; tail-feathers with pointed tips ; 

 under parts yellowish or buffy white. Ad. in fall and Im. Similar to 

 female, but buffier and more olivaceous throughout. L., 7'25 ; W., 3'76 ; T., 

 2-73 ; B., -55. 



Remarks. The young and adults in fall plumage are known as Reed- 

 birds. Adults acquire this plumage by a complete molt after the breeding 

 season. The breeding plumage is regained by a complete molt in the spring, 

 and not, as has been supposed, by a change in the color of the feathers with- 

 out molting. Freshly plumaged males have the black veiled by yellow tips 

 to the feathers; these gradually wear off, and by June have almost entirely 

 disappeared (cf. Chapman, Auk, x, 1893, p. 309). 



Range. Breeds from southern New Jersey northward to Nova Scotia, 

 westward to Utah and northern Montana ; leaves the United States by way of 

 Florida, and winters in South America. 



