LAND BIRDS. 439 
of the Red-winged Blackbird and feeding largely on grain and weed seeds 
as do the other blackbirds. 
It builds a bulky nest and lays from four to six eggs, which are thickly 
speckled with brown on a gray back-ground, sometimes with pen scratches 
of black. The eggs average 1.05 by .71 inches. 
Although a handsome bird it seems to be doubtfully beneficial, according 
to Prof. Beal’s study of its food in the Biological Survey at Washington. 
He finds that about 30 percent of its food consists of insects harmful to 
vegetation, all tuken from the ground, mainly beetles, grasshoppers and 
caterpillars. Among the latter the army-worm is not uncommon. On 
the other hand it gleans waste grain from roadsides, barn yards and pastures 
like the Cowbird, but it also visits grain fields in large flocks and eats enough 
to cause much complaint among farmers. Oats and wheat suffer most. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult male: Feathers about the base of bill, including the lores and small area about 
the eye, deep black; rest of head, neck and chest bright canary yellow, sometimes almost 
orange; usually a few yellow feathers about the vent and on the thighs (tibia); a conspicuous 
pure white patch on each wing, including the primary coverts and often some of the greater 
coverts; rest of the plumage, including wings and tail, glossy black; bill and feet black; 
iris brown. Adult female: Decidedly smaller; brownish black, only the chest, throat 
and a line over the eye dull yellow; breast with some whitish intermixed with the dark; 
no white wing-patch. Young: Similar to adult female. In autumn and winter the 
adult male has the bright yellow much obscured by dusky or brownish tips of the feathers. 
Male: Length 10.60 to 11.10 inches; wing 5.65 to 5.80; tail 4.50 to 4.85; culmen .75 
to 1. Female: 9 to 10 inches; wing 4.40 to 4.65; tail 3.50 to 3.70. 
198. Red-winged Blackbird. Agelaius pheniceus phoeniceus (Linn.). (498) 
Synonyms: Red-wing, Red-shouldered Blackbird, Swamp Blackbird, Red-winged 
Starling.—Oriolus pheeniceus, Linn. 1766.—Icterus phceniceus, Bonap., Nutt.—Sturnus 
predatorius, Wils., 1811.—Agelaius phceniceus of most other authors. 
Figures 100, 101, 102, 103. 
Adult male mainly or entirely black except for the shoulders (lesser 
and middle wing-coverts), which are brilliant scarlet bordered with buffy 
white. Female and young streaked with brownish or grayish above and 
below, and mottled or not with dull red on the shoulders. 
Distribution.—North America in general from Great Slave Lake south 
to Costa Rica, with minor exceptions. 
In Michigan the Red-winged Blackbird is almost universally distributed 
and breeds in every part of the state where suitable conditions are found. 
It is, however, much more plentiful in the 
middle and southern portions of the state, 
although this may be due largely to the 
greater abundance in these sections of 
marshes, cattail swamps and similar 
ground for which it has a decided 
preference. 
It arrives from the south very early, Fig. 102. 
the first flocks (which consist entirely of Leg and foot of Red-winged Blackbird. 
males) frequently entering the southern 
tier of counties before the end of February (Petersburg, Feb. 18, 1893), and 
