128 . BIRDS 



Female — ^Feathers finely and inconspicuously speckled 

 with brown, rusty black, and yellowish white. 



Range — ^North America. Throughout the United States 

 to Columbia River. 



Migrations — March. October. Common summer resi- 

 dent. 



When looking for the first pussy willows in the frozen 

 marshes, or listening to the peeping of yoxmg frogs some 

 day in early spring, you will, no doubt, become acquainted 

 with this handsome blackbird, with red and orange epau- 

 lettes on his shoulders, who has just returned from the 

 South. Ke, kong-ker-ee, he flutes from the willows and 

 alders about the reedy meadows where he and his bachelor 

 friends flock together and make them ring "with social 

 cheer and jubilee." A little later, flocks of dingy, brown, 

 streaked birds, traveling northward, pause to rest in the 

 marshes. Wholesale courting takes place shortly after 

 and every red-wing in a black uniform chooses one of the 

 plain, streaked, matter-of-fact birds for his mate just as if 

 they were the chorus in one of Gilbert and Sullivan's 

 operas. The remainder continue their unmaidenly journey 

 in search of husbands, whom they find waiting in cheerful 

 readiness in almost any marsh. By the first of May all 

 have settled down to home life. 



Then how constant are the rich, liquid, sweet o-ka-lee 

 notes of the red-wing! Ever in foolish fear for the safety 

 of his nest, he advertises its whereabouts in musical head- 

 lines from the top of the nearest tree, or circles around it on 

 fluttering wings above the sedges, or chucks at any tres- 

 passer near it until one might easily torture him by going 

 straight to its site. 



