Red-winged Blackbird 307 
sometimes paling to almost white at the tips; iris brown, bill and legs 
black. Length 8-25; wing 4:8; tail3-5; tarsus 1-05; culmen :80. 
In winter the buff of the middle wing-coverts is somewhat deeper 
in tone, and the scapulars are narrowly edged with rusty. 
The female is smaller than the male (wing about 3-8), and is brown 
above, slightly streaked with white, especially on the head ;. below white 
tinged with pale salmon or buff on the chin, and streaked with dusky 
brown. In winter the upper-parts are more conspicuously marked 
with white and rusty-brown. 
Young birds are very similar to the summer female, but the marking 
above is more conspicuous, while the male is larger and soon shows 
traces of his red shoulders before losing his stripy coat. 
The above description applies to the rather smaller race breeding 
in Colorado, and considered by Ridgway to be identical with the original 
eastern type-form of the species. Oberholser (07) considers that the 
Colorado breeding bird should be separated from the eastern form under 
the name of A. pheniceus fortis, while the Colorado winter birds are 
believed to be a different race, breeding further north and named 
A. pheniceus arctolegus. Until the definite decision of the A.O.U. 
Committee on this point has been given, I have followed Ridgway in 
this matter. In the meantime, Rockwell (08, p. 98) records a third 
subspecies, A. p. newtralis, among the visiting birds in Colorado, and 
according to the third edition of the Checklist the two Colorado forms 
are A. p. fortis breeding in the north-east of the State, and A. p. 
neutralis elsewhere. 
Distribution.— Breeding throughout the eastern United States and 
corresponding southern portion of the Dominion of Canada from the 
Atlantic to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. 
In Colorado the Red-winged Blackbird is a common summer resident 
chiefly on the eastern plains and foothills, but occurring and perhaps 
even breeding up to 9,000 feet occasionally; the highest definite 
breeding record seems to be Kellogg’s (Estes Park, about 8,000 feet), 
while Warren noted them near Crested Butte at 9,000 feet in June 
and October. 
This bird arrives early from the south, generally about the middle 
of March, but does not commence nesting operations until about a 
month or six weeks later; it departs again for the south in October. 
It is possible some individuals may winter in the State, but most of 
those so doing appear to be referable to the following subspecies. 
From the following localities there are records : Estes Park (Kellogg), 
Weld co. (Markman), Boulder co. (Minot & Henderson), Denver 
(Allen), South and Middle Parks (Carter), El] Paso, Teller, Lincoln and 
Fremont cos. (Aiken), Gunnison and Prowers cos. (Warren), San Luis 
Lakes (Aiken), and Mesa co. (Rockwell). 
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