The Red-winged Blackbirds 



females, from the San Diegan district. Characterization of immature and fall plumage 

 partly inferential): Adult male in spring: Glossy black with faint bluish or greenish 

 reflections; the lesser wing-coverts scarlet-red, or spectrum red, the middle coverts 

 (largely concealed) ochraceous buff to ochraceous tawny, often shading on tips to 

 whitish; or sometimes sharply tipped with black; the exposed portion of middle coverts 

 forming a transverse bar 3 to 8 millimeters in width. Bill and feet black. Adult male 

 in fall and whiter: As in spring, but feathers of upperparts lightly (sometimes sides of 

 neck, breast, and sides very lightly) fringed or tipped with light rusty or ochraceous 

 buff; the black of middle wing-coverts, if present, also buffy-tipped. Immature male: 

 Like adult male in autumn, but with strong increase of marginal edgings of ochraceous; 

 markings heavier above, lighter below, but only throat, crissum, and tail immaculate; 

 the lesser wing-coverts orange or tawny with skirtings of black; middle coverts entirely 

 black, tipped with buffy white. Increasing age is marked by increasing redness of 

 the lesser wing-coverts, so that only the oldest males achieve spectrum redness. Adult 

 female in spring: Above grayish brown or fuscous, the head, neck, and back edged with 

 light brownish gray and whitish; the feathers of wings, both coverts and flight feathers, 

 narrowly and variously (according to age) margined with whitish and dull brownish 

 gray; an obscure whitish line over eye; underparts heavily dusky-and-white-streaked, 

 the dusky element preponderating posteriorly, the white anteriorly (the streaks become 

 finer on throat and almost disappear on upper throat); a slight rosy or pinkish element 

 manifest in the whites anteriorly. Bill dark horn-color above, much lighter below; 

 legs and feet dusky brown. Adult female in autumn: As in spring, but marked by 

 increase of an ochraceous element throughout, this element appearing as buffy suffusion 

 in whites of underparts. Immature female: Like adult female and not certainly 

 distinguishable. Young birds: Resemble the adu t female in autumn, but are more 

 distinctly yellowish, especially on sides of head and underparts. Length of males 

 about 228.6 (9.00). Av. of 6 adult males in M. V. Z. coll: wing 125.2 (4.93); tail 90 

 (2.54); bill, length 22.2 (.87); depth at base 12.2 (.48); depth at nostril 9.2 (.36); tarsus 

 29.8 (1.17). Av. of 6 adult females: wing 99.7 (3.92); tail 71.4 (2.81); bill, length 18. 1 

 (.71); depth at base 10.3 (.40); depth at nostril 8.2 (.32); tarsus 26.2 (1.03). 



Recognition Marks. — Towhee to Robin size; red shoulder-patch bordered by 

 buff, of male; general streaky appearance, dusky-and-white, of female. 



Nesting of Agelaius phoeniceus. — Nest: A neatly woven but rather bulky- 

 basket of grasses, cattail leaves, or weed bark, usually lashed to upright stalks of cattail, 

 or occasionally, in willows or other bushes, and in rank herbage; occasionally also 

 nesting upon the ground, but if so, always supported upon the sides by vegetation. 

 Eggs (in California): 3 or 4, rarely 5; normally pale bluish green, more rarely pale olive 

 buff, marked boldly and sparingly, often in broad scrawls and zigzags, and chiefly 

 about the larger end, with brownish or purplish black. Av. size 24.4 x 17.3 (.96 x .68). 

 California specimens average smaller than those of phoeniceus phoeniceus. Season: 

 April-June; two broods. 



Range of Agelaius phoeniceus. — North America from British Columbia, central 

 Mackenzie, and Quebec, south to Costa Rica. 



Range of A. p. neutralis. — Undefined; may include southwestern United States 

 from western Texas to the Pacific, except lower Colorado River, etc. (range of A. p. 

 sonoriensis) ; or may, not impossibly, be confined to southwestern California (leaving 

 birds of remaining areas to be redescribed). 



Distribution in California. — Southern portion of State west of desert divide 

 northward, coastally at least to Parallel 36°, interiorly to southern portion of Tulare 



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