276 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



Identification Chart No. 19. 



BLACKBIRDS. 





T^ 



498. 



No. 498. Red-winged Blackbird {Agelaius 

 phceniceus) . 



Distributed throughout North America south of the 

 Great Slave Lake. Plumage wholly black with ex- 

 ception of the shoulders which are reddish orange 

 and white the calors blending together. Length 

 about 8.5 in. Female — Above blackish brown 

 streaked with lighter and tending to show median 

 and superciliary stripes on the head; below whitish, 

 streaked with dusky. Sides of head and throat are 

 tinged with pinkis>h. This species of Blackbird was 

 formerly subdivided into two subspecies, recently it 

 has been still further subdivided by Mr. Ridgway. 

 It is not necessary to note the distinction here. At 

 best, they can only be determined by the use of mic- 

 rometer calipers and then not with any degree of 

 certainty. 



No. 499. Bicolored Blackbird {Asielaius gub- 

 ernator) . 



Pacific coast district of the United States from 

 Washington to Lower California. Wholly black 

 with scarlet shoulders only slightly or not at all 

 edged with buffy. Female like the preceding species. 



No, 500. Tricolored Blackbird (Agelaius tri- 

 color) . 



Range along the Pacific coast about the same as 

 the preceding species. Shoulders a deep blood red, 

 margined widely and abruptly witii white. Fem.-ile 

 very similar to the preceding species except that the 

 coverts are quite strongly edged with white. 



