The Tricolored Redwing 



outcry, so that the whole approaches song. A purer song phrase more 

 rarely indulged in may be syllabized as follows: Cut cut cudut whee up 

 chooup. The last note comes sharp and clear, or, as often, trails off into 

 an indistinguishable jumble. The questing note, or single call, of the 

 male is one of the sweetest sounds of springtime, but an even more 

 domestic sound, chirp trap, uttered while he is trailing about after his 

 swinking spouse, appears ridiculously prosaic. 



Once, in a mesquite grove, under the influence, I doubt not, of the 

 rowdy Chat, an infatuated Oriole did a clog dance across an open space. 

 With exaggerated laboriousness he smote his wings together over his 

 back half a dozen times, then dashed into a thicket, whither his Juliet 

 had, no doubt, preceded him. Perridiculus! 



No. 18 



Tricolored Redwing 



A. O. U. No. 500. Agelaius tricolor (Audubon). 



Synonyms. — Tricolored Blackbird. Tricolored Red-winged Blackbird 

 Red-and-white-shouldered Blackbird. 



Description. — Adult male in spring: Glossy black with greenish or bluish 

 reflections (slightly more pronounced than in A. phoenicens) ; the lesser wing-coverts 

 rich red (carmine — darker than in A. phoeniceus); middle coverts pure white, appearing 

 as a broad transverse band below the red. Bill and feet black. Adult male in fall and 

 winter: As in spring, but feathers lightly skirted, especially on back, pileum, sides 

 of neck, and breast, with rusty gray; the white of the middle wing-coverts more or less 

 tinged with brownish buff. Immature males: (Not seen) probably exaggerate the 

 characters of the adult male in autumn, and closely parallel the course of A. phoeniceus. 

 Yearling male in first spring: Like adult, but lesser wing-coverts tawny or brownish 

 red, variously admixed with black; the middle coverts wholly black, or variously mixed 

 black and white. Adult female in spring: Similar to that of Agelaius phoeniceus, but 

 more uniform in coloration and much darker; above sooty black, nearly uniform, from 

 back posteriorly, but with some obscure skirtings of brownish gray on head and nape; 

 below sooty black, nearly uniform, from breast posteriorly, although with faint skirtings 

 of lighter, or whitish — these skirtings sharply defined on lower tail-coverts; breast min- 

 gled black and whitish in about equal proportions, clearing anteriorly to white, sparingly 

 flecked with black on throat; an obscure whitish line over eye; lateral coloration through- 

 out blending the characters of upper and lower plumage; a dull ruddy element often 

 present in the whites, and (in older examples?) the lesser wing-coverts more or less 

 skirted with dark red. Adult female in autumn: As in spring, but plumage softer and 

 much more extensively margined above with brownish gray, below with whitish (in this 

 stage closely resembling the female of A. phoeniceus in spring). Immature female: Like 

 adult female in autumn, but still more heavily margined; a rusty element appearing 



IO4 



