1913 BIRDS OF THE FRESNO DISTRICT 69 



each summer. They sing from the tops of the reeds, fly out to the nearby alfalfa 

 fields, or glean around the corrals where, if not actually welcomed, they are 

 usually tolerated or ignored by the busy ranchmen, who have no time to notice 

 what is going on in the bird world around them, unless it affect their interests 

 directly. 



BicoLORED Blackbird. Agelaius phoeniceus califomicus Nelson. 



At the present time the status of the Red-winged Blackbirds inhabiting 

 Fresno County is not Vv^ell understood, but for convenience and in the absence of 

 specimens for comparison with birds from other parts of the state, they are 

 placed under the above heading. 



The writer has long been of the opinion that at least two forms of the Red- 

 winged Blackbird occurred in the Fresno district, one being a permanent resi- 

 dent and the other, possibly, only a spring migrant. 



Along the ditches and in the swamp holes of the thickly settled regions east 

 and northeast from Fresno the resident blackbirds are apparently almost typical 

 Bicolors, judging from the plumage ; and this form also occurs commonly in 

 many of the west side swamps where it breeds in large numbers. However, in 

 March each year there appears in the salt grass pastures southwest of Fresno 

 an assemblage of blackbirds that seem to differ in habits as well as appearance 

 from those found elsewhere.- The males, even v.'hen apparently fully matured, 

 hav^e the red feathers of the epaulettes broadly margined with buft'y, while the 

 females are very much lighter, especially on the under parts where the black 

 streaking seem.s very narrow giving the birds a strangely pale appearance. 



I have always been impressed with the tendency of these birds to go aoout 

 in small silent companies, feeding among the cockle burrs and other weeds along 

 the ditches and about the shallow ponds. There are certain characteristics, hard 

 to describe, that to me make these birds seem quite unlike thor>e found in other 

 parts of the valley. 



I have never been able to carry on investigations sufficient to cietermnie 

 whether these birds breed in this region or merely pass through in the spring. A 

 series of specimens from the various parts of the valley taken through the four 

 seasons would probably prove enlightening, but has as yet not been assembled. 

 The writer, however, collected at random a female, an immature male, and an 

 adult male, the three now being in the Museum at the University of California. 

 In a recent letter Mr. Joseph Grinnell informs me that in point of plumage these 

 specimens are quite typical of "Bicolor", but as regards measurements of bill 

 they more closely approach the San Diego Red-wing. (See Mailliard, Condor. 

 XII. pp. 63-70.) 



The following notes refer to the resident Red-wings of whatever subspecies 

 they may later prove to be. The earliest date that I have for the nesting of this 

 blackbird is April 5, 1908, when a scattered colony was found in a growth of 

 tules bordering small ponds caused by the overflow of a flume five or six miles 

 east of Clovis. A dozen or more nests built among the partly dead stalks and 

 averaging about one foot above the water, held eggs that varied from fresh to 

 well incubated. From this date until the last of June— the 27th to be exact- 

 fresh eggs have been found. Almost every clump of tules in the various sinks 

 and ponds is made use of by nesting blackbirds, while in many instances a colony 



