258 TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD. 



the sky for some distance by their masses. In the northern part of California he met 

 with a breeding place of this species that occupied several acres, covered with alder- 

 bushes and willows, in the immediate neighborhood of water. The nests, often four or 

 five in the same bush, were composed of mud and straw, and lined with fine grasses. 

 The birds are very abundant near San Diego and Los Angelos, and not rare at Santa 

 Barbara. 



"The Tricolor," says Dr. Elliott Coues, "is extremely abundant and resident in the 

 fertile portions of southern California. It very rarely crosses the intermediate desert to 

 the Colorado River ; this arid tract forming a barrier to the eastward progress of many 

 species, of gi-eat efficacy in distinguishing the littoral fauna from that of the Colorado 

 valley. One who has traveled this region will not be surprised that birds with any 

 fancy for green, watery places, decline the same journey. At Wilmington and Drumm 

 Barracks I found the Tricolors flocking in vast numbers, in November. They thronged 

 the streets of the town, and covered the military parade-ground; alone, so far as their 

 congeners were concerned, but on intimate association with hundreds of Brewer's Black- 

 birds. Both species were almost as tame as poultry. . . . Often, as I sat in my quarters 

 on a bright sunny day, the light would be suddenly obscured, just as by a quickly passing 

 cloud, and a rushing noise ensued as the compact flock swirled past the window. They 

 often alighted by hundreds on the roofs of the barracks, almost hiding the shingles, 

 and every picket of a long paling fence near by would sometimes be capped by its bird. 

 They were very noisy, chattering from daylight till dark — all the time they could see to 

 fly about. Nobody troubled them much; but Hawks of various kinds — the Harrier, the 

 Western Red-breast, and the Lanier — were continually dashing in among them, with 

 terrible swooping, bringing death to not a few, and dismay everywhere. At this season 

 the sexes kept mostly apart ; the flocks of males seemed to largely outnumber the females. 

 Very few of those I examined were in perfect plumage, much of the black being varied 

 with different shades of brown and yellowish, and the white wing-bar being imperfect. 

 In spring the birds resort together to marshy spots, breeding in loose communities. The 

 nests and eggs do not differ appreciably from those of the common Red-wing." 



The eggs, four to five in number, are light blue, spotted, marbled, and blotched, 

 chiefly on the larger end, with ashy-brown, sometimes blackish. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Icterus tricolor "Nutt." Aud. (1839). AGBLAWS TRICOLOR Bonap. (1838). 



DESCRIPTION: "Adult male, glossy blue-black, the plumage with soft silky texture, the lesser wing-coverts 

 deep crimson or burnt carmine, the middle coverts white (tinged with bufF in winter plumage). 

 Adult female with plumage very soft and silky in texture. Similar in color to female of A. gubernator, 

 but decidedly grayer in general cast of plumage. 



"Male: Length, 8.50 to 9.00 inches; wing, 4.83; tail, 3.67 inches. 



"Female: Length, 7.00 to 7.50 inches; wing, 4.23; tail, 3.16." (Ridgway.) 



