REDWINGED BLACKBIRD 



137 



an alder thicket, the Bedwings are found in 



numbers during the 



nesting 



season. It is only- 



wears bright scarlet 



the black-coated male who 



epaulets; the young birds and the females, who 



during the winter and in migration flock by 



themselves, are 



brown with darker 



streaks, marked 



something like a 



Sparrow. 



The rich call-note 

 i s described a s 

 1 i kong - que - ree ' ' or 

 u Oh lee." There 

 is also a fifing chorus 

 which the males sing 

 all together, which, 

 while not musical, 

 makes as springlike 

 a sound as the rip- 

 pling of Pickering 

 frogs. 



The nest, if in 

 alder thickets, is 

 placed in a crotch of a bush; but if in reedy 

 marshes it is supported by lacing several stems 

 together. It is made of coarse grasses and weed 

 stalks, lined with finer fibres. The eggs are pale 

 blue, curiously black-streaked and spotted. 



REDWINGED BLACKBIRD 



Length 9% inches 



