Rusty Blackbird. 



Jan., 1909. Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 563 



coast; breeds from the northern border of the United States north- 

 ward. (Northern Michigan, New York, Maine, etc.) 



Adult male in summer: Entirely lustrous black, with greenish 

 reflections; head nearly or quite the same color (never purplish blue) ; 



wing, less than 5 inches long 

 (measured from carpus to 

 tip); iris, pale yellow; bill 

 and feet, black. 



Adult female in spring: 

 General plumage, slate color; 

 wings and tail, darker and 

 more or less glossy. 



Adult m,ale in fall and 

 winter: Plumage, black, but 

 feathers widely tipped above 

 with ferrugineous or rusty; 

 feathers of under parts, tipped with buff brown. 



Adult female in fall: Feathers of the upper parts, broadly tipped 

 with ferrugineous or rusty, often almost entirely concealing the gray 

 bases of the feathers on the head and upper back ; a bufEy superciliary 

 line; feathers of under parts, tipped with pale tawny brown. 

 The females are smaller than the males. 

 Male: Length, g; wing, 4.75; tail, 3.50; bill, .75. 

 ■Female: Length, 8.50; wing, 4.45; tail, 3.40; bill, .65. 

 This species is an abundant migrant in spring and fall in Illinois 

 and Wisconsin. Kumlien and HoUister state that formerly it oc- 

 cured as a summer resident in Wisconsin, but only a single instance of 

 its breeding within our limits is on record : "A set, nest and eggs taken 

 at Storrs' Lake near Milton, June, 1861, is now in the Kumlien col- 

 lection." (Birds of Wisconsin, 1903, p. 89.) 



232. Euphagus cyanocephalus (Wagl.). 

 Brewer's Blackbird. 



Scolecophagus cyanocephalus (Wagl.), A. 0. U. Check List, 1895, 

 p. 209. 



Distr.: Western United States, from the British Provinces to 

 Central America; accidental as far east as Illinois and Wisconsin. 

 Breeds from southern Texas northward to Alberta, Manitoba and the 

 Saskatchewan and east to Minnesota and Nebraska. 



Adult male in summer: Bill, stouter than E. carolinus; general 

 plumage, lustrous greenish black; whole head and throat, steel bluish 



