THE EED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 



33 



has been found to eat nearly three times as much grain as the former, 

 must be capable of much mischief in localities where it becomes 

 superabundant. 



The following table shows the various elements of the food for each 

 month of the season: 



Food of the yellow-headed blackbird. 



[Number of stomachs examined: April, 9; May, 31; June, 14; July, 16; August, 60; September, 5 

 October, 3: total, 138.] 



Food. 



April. 



May. 



June. 



July. 



August. 



tember. 



Octo- 

 ber. 



Aver- 

 age. 



ANIMAL. 



Percent. 

 2.7 

 3.9 

 0.1 



Percent. 

 8.0 

 12.6 

 6.0 

 1.0 

 5.3 



Percent. 

 4.1 

 7.8 

 4.4 

 0.4 

 22.6 



Percent. 

 4.7 



21.5 

 32.0 

 6.9 



Percent. 

 0.1 

 0.7 

 0.1 

 8.0 

 0.8 



Percent. 



Percent. 



Percent. 

 2.8 

 5.0 

 4.0 

 11.6 

 9.7 







2.3 



Caterpillars 





15.6 

 19.0 



24.3 

 10.4 



other insects 



2.6 



Total animal food 



VEGETABLE. 



9.3 



^32.9 



39.4 



72.9 



9.7 



34.6 



37.0 



33.7 



48.8 



9.0 

 5.7 

 21.9 

 30.5 



9.7 

 3.4 

 12.8 

 34.0 

 0.7 



5.8 

 14.4 

 6.6 

 0.3 



1.1 

 9.9 

 43.2 

 36.1 







9.8 

 3.5 

 25.6 

 27.1 

 0.3 



Wheat 









23.9 

 18.0 



64.4 

 1.0 



63.0 



Weed seed . .... 



other vegetable food 



Total vegetable food . . 







90.7 



67.1 



60.6 



27.1 



90.3 



65.4 



63.0 



66.3 



THE RED-WINGED BDACKBIRD. 



{Agelaius phceniceus. ) 



The red- winged blackbird (otherwise known as the red -shouldered 

 blackbird, swamp blackbird, and American starling), including its 

 various races, ^ inhabits North America from Nova Scotia and Great 

 Slave Lake south to Costa Rica. It breeds throughout its range in 

 the United States and Canada. The typical form is replaced at diJffer- 

 ent places in the southern part of the range by the Bahama, Florida, 

 and Sonoran redwings, but the differences that separate these various 

 subspecies are scarcely appreciable by the casual observer. The bird 

 is curiously restricted in its local distribution by the fact that it nests 

 as a rule only in the immediate vicinity of water, and preferably 

 directly over it. For this reason it is absent from extensive tracts of 

 country either in high mountainous regions or in desert or forest 

 areas. Nests have occasionally been found in perfectly dry situations 

 at a distance from water, but such cases are exceptional. 



The prairies of the Upper Mississippi Valley, with their numerous 

 sloughs and ponds, furnish ideal nesting places for redwings, and con- 

 sequently this region has become the great breeding ground for the 



^ The different subspecies are not considered separatel)^ in this bulletin. 

 3074— No. 13 3 



