160 NORTH AMERICAN iJ I RDS.. 



yellowish; beneath wliite, streaked wiiii brown. lAjrepart of throat, supcroihary, and 

 nuMHiui ,strij)e .strongly tinged with brownish-vellow. Lengtii of mule, 9.50- win.'" o.OO- 

 t.iil, 4.15. 



ILui. Uniteil Stiite.s from Atlantic to Pacifu;; north to Groat Slavic Lake, Fort Resolu- 

 tion, Fort .SimiKson, Fort Rae. ete. ; ( liiateinala(.Sei.ATF:it, Ibis 1, llj; breeding^ ; Costa Kiea 

 (Lawuknck, America, .V. V. Lye. IX, 104); Bahamas (linvANT, B. P. VII, 18.'.1»); 

 Texas (Dkksskk, Ibis, C5, 4-J2) ; Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. ISCG, 00; Fort Whipple) ; 

 Yucatan. 



Tliere i.s .some variation in tlie sliade of red on tlie .sliouider.'^, wliicli is 

 soniotinic's of the color of arterial l)l(jod or bri-iht erini.son. It never, how- 

 ever, has tiie lueniatitic tint of the red in A. tricolvr. Tlie middle coverts 

 are usually uniform hrownish-yellow to tlie very tips ; sometimes some of 

 these middle coverts are tipped at the end with black', Ijut these Lltick tips 

 arc usually of .slight extent, and indicate immaturity, or else a transition of 

 hybridism or race to A. (juhcrnntor. 



There is also some variiition in the size and ]iroportions of tlie bill. Tiie 

 most striking is in a series of three from the Ked Kivcr .Settlement, decidedly 

 larger thtin more southern ones (wings, 5.15 ; tail, 4.40). The bill is about 

 as long as that of rcnu.sylvania specimens, but nuich stouter, the thickness 

 at the biise being coiisidertibly more than half the length of the culmeu. 

 One specimen from San Elizario, Texas, has the bill of much the same size 

 and i)ro])ortion3. 



Tiie male of A. ((mmih's of Cuba cannot be distinguished from small- 

 sized, males of j)h<)ui(rHs from the United States, the females, however, as in 

 nearly all West Indian Idcriihr, are uniform tliough rather dull black. This 

 we consider as simply a local variation of melanism, not indicating a specific 

 dift'erence. A young male is siihilar, but witii the lesser coverts red, tipjied 

 with black. On the other extreme, .streaked female and young birds from 

 Lower California, Arizona, and Western Mexico are much lighter than in 

 eastern birds, tlie chin, tiiroat, jugulum, and sujierciliary stripe tinged with 

 a peculiar peacii-blossom pink ; not biiH", sometimes tinged with orange. 



Habit.s. The much abused tiiid persecuted IJedwinged Blackbird is found 

 throughout North America as far north as the 57th parallel, from tlie Atlan- 

 tic to tlie Piicific ; and it breeds more or less abundantly wherever found, 

 from Florida and Texas to the plains of the Sa.skatchewtin. According to 

 the observations of Mr. Sahiii, it is resident all the year in Ouateinala. It 

 breeds among the reeds at the lake of Duenas, deferring its incubtition until 

 the month of June. The feiiiiiles congregate in large flocks near the lake, 

 feeding about the .swampy gra.ss on the edge of the water, tiie males keeping 

 separate. At Orizaba, ^Mexico, Sumichrast regarded this species as only a 

 bird of passiige. 



On the Pacific coast, it is only found, in any numbers, in Washington 

 Territory and in Oregon, about cultivated tir.cts. Dr. Cooper thinks that 

 none inhabit the bare and mountainous prairie regions east of the Cascade 

 Mountains. Small flocks wintered at Vancouver al)Out stables and hay- 



