316 Birds of Colorado 
Description.—Male in summer—Black with slight, bluish metallic gloss; 
under tail-coverts edged with whitish; iris pale yellow; bill and legs 
black. Length 8-75; wing 4-5; tail 3-50; culmen -75; tarsus 1-20. 
In winter the feathers of the head and upper-back are tipped with 
dark rusty-brown, those of the sides of the head, throat and breast with 
buffy-brown, whence the vernacular name. The female in summer 
is uniform dull slate, darkest and slightly glossed on the back; it is 
also smaller (wing 4.25); iris pale yellow. In winter the head and 
upper-back are overlaid with rusty-brown and the lower surface, 
including the superciliary stripe, with pale buffy-brown. 
Distribution.—Breeding from northern New England and Michigan 
northwards to Labrador and Alaska, wintering in the middle and Gulf 
states westwards to the great plains. 
The Rusty Blackbird is a rare winter visitor to Colorado, and has 
been met with only on three occasions, so far as 1am aware. Anthony 
(Smith, 86) shot two near Denver on 17th of December, 1883, Professor 
Osburn, one near Loveland in November, 1889, and recently Aiken 
obtained two from a small flock wintering in the Fountain Valley, 
six miles south of Colorado Springs, January 15th, 1908. The Thorne 
record seems to be a somewhat doubtful one. 
Brewer’s Blackbird. Huphagus cyanocephalus. 
A.0.U. Checklist no 510—Colorado Records—Allen 72, pp. 150, 157, 
163; Aiken 72, p. 203; Trippe 74, p. 202; Henshaw 75, p. 321; Scott 
79, p. 94; Drew 81, p. 139; Tresz 81, p. 95; Allen & Brewster 83, 
p. 193; Drew 85, p. 16; Beckham 85, p. 142; 87, p. 124; Morrison 
88, p. 75; 89, p. 148; Kellogg 90, p. 88; Cooke 97, pp. 18, 95, 211; 
Keyser 02, pp. 98, 140, 230; Dille 03, p. 74; Henderson 03, p. 236; 
09, p. 235 ; Warren 06, p. 22; 08, p. 23; 09, p.16; Gilman 07, p. 156; 
Markman 07, p. 157; Rockwell 08, p. 170. 
Description. Male—Black throughout, the head and neck strongly 
glossed with violet, the rest of the plumage less strongly with greenish ; 
iris pale yellow, bill and legs black ; bill much stouter at the base than 
that of H. carolinus. Length 9:25; wing 5-1; tail 4-0; culmen -85; 
tarsus 1-25. 
A winter bird from New Mexico has the feathers of the head and back 
obscurely tipped with dark brown, and traces of greyish-buff tipping 
on the breast. A female is pale earthy-brown above and below, becom- 
ing more dusky towards the tail, which, with the upper tail-coverts, is 
glossed with greenish ; it is smaller, wing 4:5. The young bird is very 
much like the female. 
Distribution. Western North America, breeding from British 
Columbia and Manitoba south to Lower California, Texas and northern 
Mexico; in winter over the whole of Mexico to northern Guatemala, 
as well as in many places throughout the breeding range. 
