87 



Mating and Song. 



Summary of the Literature. — Concerning this phase of the 

 life history but little has been written. Nuttall gives us the 

 best account: '^They continue to feed in small parties in 

 swamps and by slow streams and ponds until the middle or 

 close of April, when they begin to separate in pairs. Some- 

 times, however, they appear to be partly polygamous, like 

 their cousins the Cow Troopials; as amidst a number of females 

 engaged in incubation but few of the other sex appear asso- 

 ciated with them; and as among the Bobolinks, sometimes 

 two or three of the males may be seen in chase of an individual 

 of the other sex, but without making any contest or show of 

 jealous feud with each other, as a concubinage rather than 

 any regular mating seems to prevail among the species.'^ 

 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874) tell us that ^'Late in April, 

 they have all re-estabhshed themselves in their chosen haunts, 

 have mated, and are preparing to make their nests. In 

 Pennsylvania this is done in May, in New England early in 

 June, and farther north a fortnight later." The observations 

 of Peet (1908) in Michigan differ in some respects from those 

 of the two preceding authors and from those made at Ithaca: 

 "Upon arriving in the spring, the courting begins at once,* 

 although nest building must be delayed for several weeks, as 

 no nests are built until the cat-tails are nearly grown.* He then 

 adds: ''The females spend much of their time walking about 

 among the dead, broken-down herbage, probably seeking food, 

 but the males strut about on the hmbs of the near-by trees, 

 their feathers ruffled up and body swelled out. . . . During 

 the time elapsing between their arrival from the south and 

 nesting, the Redwings may usually be found scattered over 

 the entire swamp, but with the coming of the breeding season, 

 they collect in the clumps of cat-tails, where in a short time 

 the nests will be built." 



The song of the Redwing may well be discussed in connec- 

 tion with mating. Nuttall again gives us the most extended 

 account: ''They commence a general concert that may be 



* The italics are the present writer's. 



