210 EEPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



They consume a greater portion of grain than the Red-wing, but ap- 

 parently most of it picked up from the droppings of cattle and about 

 the barnyards. 



In winter I have found them in Cape May county associating with 

 Red-wings. 



497 Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (Bonaparte). 

 Yellow-headed Blackbird. 



Adult male. Length, 10. Wing, 5.50. Black with the head and breast 

 bright yellow, except a black spot before the eye and on the chin ; outer wing- 

 coverts, white. 



Female. General color brownish ; forehead, line over the eye and breast, 

 dull yellow, with more or less white below. 



An accidental straggler from the west. 



An immature specimen, secured by a gunner at Tuckerton about 

 1890, is in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila- 

 delphia. 



This is apparently the only record for the State. 1 



498 Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus). 

 Red-winged Blackbird. 



PLATE 50. 



Adult male in summer. Length, 9-10. Wing, 4.75. Uniform black, except 

 the shoulder patch, which is vermilion or scarlet, bordered with buff. In autumn 

 the feathers of the upper part are bordered with rusty brown edgings, those of 

 the lower parts slightly with buff. 



Adult female. Length, 7.50-8.50. Above, dull blackish-brown, streaked with 

 buffy ; below, broadly streaked blackish and buffy-white ; throat suffused with 

 pale pink ; shoulders tinged with dull red. In winter broadly edged with rusty 

 and buff above. 



Young male in first autumn. Similar to the adult male, but heavily veiled 

 with rusty and buff; shoulder patch mottled with black. 



Young in first summer. Similar to adult female, but more yellowish-buff 

 below and streaks narrower. 



Nest of grass situated in a tussock or supported upon cattail stalks or in low 

 bushes, usually close to the water ; eggs, three to five, pale bluish-gray, spotted 

 and "pen marked" with black about the larger end, 1.00 x .70. 



1 Abst. Proc. D. V. O. C., II., p. 14, where the locality is inadvertently given 

 as Fish-House. 



