KTEUID.K — TIIK ORIOLKS. 166 



as pnlo f^'ceiiiHli-wliitc, willi liirt,'o ciirviii^' streaks and spots ol' dark brown, 

 inustly at tlic lar^^o tiiid. Tlicy arc said to iiiuasuro one inch by .7"> of an inch. 

 K'^iiH of tiiis varicly in my cidiinct, taken in California by Dr. lloerniann, 

 arc of a rounded-oval sliapc, nearly tonally olituse at either end, and vary- 

 inj; in length from .',)() of an inch to an inch, and in breadth from .70 to .80. 

 Their ground-color is a light blue, fading into a bluisli-white, marked only 

 around the larger end with waving lines ol' dark lirown, much lighter in 

 shade than the markings of the p/hDuccus usually are. 



Agelaius tricolor, Honap. 



BED AND WHITE 8H0ULDEBED BLACKBIRD. 



Icterus tricolor, " XriTAi.i,," .Vi;i). Oni. lUog. V, 1839, I, pi. oecl.\xxviii. — Nuttall, 

 Man. I, (2.1 (m1.,) 184(i, 18(i. Aijelniun trimhr, Hon. List, 1838. — Aru. Syu. 1839, 

 141. — III. Hiiils Am. IV, 184-2, 27, ]A. ccxiv. ~ ITkkum. X, S, 53 (iifst). — HAliin, 

 Birds N. Am. 18.'i8, 530. — Cooi-Ki!, Orii. C'lil. I, 1870, 205. 



Sp. Chah. Tail nearly even. SltoikI and third quills longest; fir.st a little .«iiorter 

 than tliu fourth. Bill .slender, not half as higli as long. 



Male. rr<"neral color unilo.ni histiou.s vclvct-blai'k, with u .strong silky-blui.sli rellec- 

 tion. Shoulders and lesser wing-eoveits brownish-red, of much the color of venous 

 blood; the median coverts of a weli-delined and nearly i)ure wliite, with .sometimes a 

 brownish tinge. Wing, 4.90 ; tail, ;i.7(>; eulmen, .1)7 ; tarsu.s, l.ll}. 



Female. General color dusky slaty-brown, faintly variegateil on head also by lighter 

 streaks; middle wing-coverts broadly and sharply bcirdered with imre wliit(!. An 

 obsolete sn|)erciliary and ma.vciUary stripe ol' giiiyish-white. IJi'ueath grayish-white for 

 anterior half, with narrow streaks of dusky, this color gradually prevailing i)osteriorly, 

 the sides, flanks, and crissum being nearly miiform dusky. Wing, 4/25; tail, 3.20. 



Hau. Pacilic Province of I'uited Stales, from Columbia lliver southward, not yet 

 found out of California and Oregon. 



Immature males sometimes have the white on the wing tinged with 

 l)rownish-yellow, as in A. phdniccn.'^. Tiie red, however, has the usual 

 browiush-orange shade so much darker and iluller than the lirilliantly scarlet 

 shoulders of the otlier sjiecies, and the black has that soft liluish lu.stre 

 peculiar to the species. The relationships generally between the two species 

 are very close, but the bill, as stated, is slenderer and more sulcate in trim/or, 

 the tail much more nearly even ; the first ]>rimary longer, usiuiUy nearly 

 eijual to or longer than the fourth, instead of the fifth. 



Two strong features of coloration distinguish the female and iunnature 

 stages of this s])ecies from (pihcnxifor and 2>Ji"'iiin ".s-. They are, lirst, the soft 

 bluish gloss of the males, l)oth adult and immature ; and secondly, the clear 

 white and broad, not brown and narrow, borders to the middle wing-coverts. 



Habits. The Eed and White shouldered IJlackbird was seen by Mr. 

 Ridgway among the ti'l(^ in the neighborhood of Sacramento City, where it 

 was very abundant, associating with the A. iiJufniccnn and (/Khrnudor, and 

 the Yellow-heuded Blackbird. The conspicuous white stripe on the wings 



