AGELiEUS PHCENICEUS, EED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 187 



Hab. — The typical form tbronghoiit temperate North America, and south to Centra] /^■3'_£ 

 America. Breeds in suitable places from Texas to the Saskatchewan, and along tliej\, 

 whole Atlantic coast. Winters from about 35*^ southward. Said to have occurred in ' ' ' 

 England. Var. asshnilis in Cuba. Var. giiheriiaioi- along the Pacific coast, from British^^.^ ,.; -J 

 Columbia into Mexico. Var. tricolor resident in California. 



Lhiilnmnt Warren's ExjKdHion. — 47!j7, Big Nemaha; 5323-26, Medicine Creek ; 9332, ' ' 

 9331, ',):!39. 9333, 9330, along the Platte. 



Later JCxjKditioiis. — 61058-89, Green Eiver ; 61725-56, Ogden, Utah. . r 



We have been furnished by Mr. Allen with elaborate tables of measurements, show- j J i^ ■ .j 

 ing the sexual and individual dift'crcnces in size and proportions of specimens from the 

 same locality, as well as the variation in the same respects, according to geographical 

 distribution. The diflference in size consists in the inferiority of southern birds, ac- 

 cording to a well understood law ; it is coupled, as usual, also, with attenuation of the 

 bill. In color, southern birds differ in the more inteuse lustre of the blact and brighter 

 red. Following are the dimensions ; the numbers in parentheses are the several 

 averages. Massachusetts males : Length, 8.40 to 9.85 (9.16) ; extent, 13.95 to 15.35 

 (14.71); wing, 4.43 to 5.00 (4.69); tail, 3.12 to 3.90 (3.63); bill, 0.75 to 0.91 (0.88). 

 Massachusetts females: Length, 7.35 to 8.55 (7.53); extent, 11.25 to 13.55 (l'i.24); 

 wing, 3.63 to 4.26 (3.86) ; tail, 2.65 to 3.15 (2.93) ; bill, 0.70 to 0.82 (0.75). Southern 

 males: Length, 8.25 to 9.55 (9.02); extent, 13.60 to 14.90 (14.41); wing, 4.34 to 4.80 

 (4.62); tail, 3.35 to 3.90 (3.61); bill, 0.85 to 1.00 (0.91). Southern females: Length, 

 7.50 to 8.00 (7.73) : extent, 11.85 to 12.85 (12.44) ; wing, 3.63 to 3.90 (3.83) ; tail, 2.75 to 

 3.20 (2.99). Californian specimens are correspondent. Independent of all extrinsic 

 influences, the normal inherent variation in dimensions amounts to fifteen per cent. 



The so-called species, A. gubernaior, has not the slightest claim to specific rank — in 

 fact it can hardly be rated as a fair variety. Of the same size and shape as ordinary 

 phceniceua, with the same scarlet carpus, it only differs, in extreme cases, in not having 

 this red bordered with tawny. This is produced by the restriction of the brownish- 

 yellow of the middle wing-coverts (in phceniceus occupying the whole length of these 

 feathers) to the basal portion of the feathers, their jirojecting ends being black, and so 

 failing to produce a tawny bordering of the red. But every imaginable stage is a mat- 

 ter of observation in different specimens, from one extreme to the other ; and in some 

 cases of plmniceus most of the greater coverts are likewise tawny, producing a 

 brownish-yellow patch, nearly as large as the scarlet one itself 



Var. tricolor is better marked, in its smaller size and attenuated bill (thus agreeing, 

 however, with Fioridan pliwinceu^), dark blood-red wing-patch, and pure white border. 

 The better distinction in this case corresponds to the geographical restriction and com- 

 parative isolation of this local race. That it is no more, however, than a variety, 

 seems fairly inferable; the difference in the shade of red is no greater than that 

 observable in specimens o{ pltcemceus proper, while the bordering of the red in the 

 latter is sometimes nearly pure white. 



The Kedshouldered Marsh Blackbird is of common occurrence in all 

 suitable places thronghout the Missouri region ; but from its nature it 

 is somewhat localized, being found only in wooded and watered por- 

 tions, except while journeying; and I am not aware that it evfr gathers 

 in such vast numbers as throng the more congenial marshy tracts of 

 the Eastern States. Some modification in habits is the necessary result 

 of topographical as well as climatic changes, which birds experience 

 in their ordinarily extensive dispersion. In Arizona, for instance, I 

 found Eedwings common in the pine-woods, miles away from any water, 

 excepting a tiny mountain stream that afforded no special conveniences 

 for them. 



The Tricolor variety is extremely abundant and resident in the fertile 

 portions of Southern California. It very rarely crosses the intermediate 

 desert to the Colorado River ; this arid tract forming a barrier to the 

 eastward progress of many species, of great efficacy in distinguishing 

 the littoral fauna from that of the Colorado Valley. One who has 

 traveled this region will not bo surprised that birds with any fancy for 

 green, watery places, decline the same journey. At Wilmington and 

 Drumm Barracks I found the Tricolors flocking in vast numbers, in 

 November. They thronged the streets of the town, and covered the 

 military parade-ground ; alone, so far as their congeners were concerned, 

 but on intimate association with hundreds of Brewer's Blackbirds. Both 

 species were almost as tame as poultry, and the boys used to stone them, 



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