404 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PASSEBES— OSCINES. 
Analysis of Species and Varieties. 
Middle wing-coverts buff, bordering the bright red patch phceniceus 316 
Middle wing-coverts buff, but black-tipped, usually leaving red patch without buff border . gubemator 317 
Middle wing-coverts white, bordering the dark red patch tricolor 318 
316. A. phoeni'ceus. (Gr. (poiuUeos, phoinikeos, Lat. phceniceus, red, of a color introduced iu Greece 
by the Phoenicians. Fig. 259.) Blackbird. Marsh Blackbird. Red-winged Black- 
bird. Eed-and-buff-shouldered Marsh Blackbird. ^ : Lesser wing-coverts scarlet, 
like arterial blood, broadly bordered by brownish- yellow, or brownish-white, the middle row of 
coverts being entirely of this color ; sometimes the greater row, likewise, are mostly similar, 
producing a patch on the wing nearly as large as the red one ; occasionally, there are traces of 
red on the edge of the wing and below; in some specimens the bordering is almost pure white, 
instead of buff. Extremes: length 8.25-9.85 ; extent 13.60-15.30; wing 4.35-5.00; tail 
3.12-3.90; bill 0.75-1.00; average: Length 9.00; extent 14.50; wing 4.65; tail 3.60. 9, 
length 7.35-8.55 ; extent 11.55-13.55 ; wing 3.65-4.25 ; tail 2.65-3.20 ; bill 0.70-0.80 ; aver- 
age : Length 7-65 ; extent 12.35 ; wing 3.85 ; tail 3.00 ; bill 0.75. The extremes here given 
not often seen. Southern-bred birds are much smaller as well as glossier. Temperate N. Am., 
but chiefly E. of the Rocky Mts. ; breeding anywhere in its range, Mdntering from about 35° 
southward. From its general dispersion in low or wet thickets or fields, swamps, and marshes, 
the blackbird collects in August and September in immense flocks, thronging the extensive 
tracts of wild oats and other aquatic plants in marshes and along water courses, also visiting and 
doing much damage to grain-fields. Thousands are destroyed by boys and pot-hunters, but the 
hosts scarcely diminish, and every known artifice fails to protect the crops from the invasion of 
the dusky hordes. At other seasons the maize-thief " is innocuous, if not positively beneficial, 
as it destroys its share of insects. Nest usually in reeds or bushes near the ground, or in a 
tussock of grass, or on the ground ; occasionally in small trees, vines, and shrubbery ; a bulky 
structure of coarse fibrous materials, usually strips of rushes, sedges or marsh grass, lined with 
finer grasses; eggs 4-6, 1.00 X 0.75, May and July, pale blue, fantastically dotted, blotched, 
clouded, and scrawled over with dark or even blackish-brown, and paler or purphsh sheU-marks. 
The usual note is a guttural chuck ; in the breeding season the creaking chorus " makes an 
indescribable medley. 
317 A. p. guberna'tor. (Lat. gubemator, a governor, alluding to the red epaulettes, as if a sign of 
rank or command.) Red -shouldered Marsh Blackbird. Lesser wing-coverts scarlet, as 
before, narrowly or not at all bordered with buff, the next row having black tips for all or most 
of their exposed portion, so that the brownish-yellow of their bases does not show much, if any. 
Pacific Coast, U. S. and British Columbia. Scarcely different; 9 indistinguishable from 9 
phoeniceiis. 
318. A. tri'color. (Lat. tricolor, three-colored ; red, white, and black.) Red-and-white- 
shouldered Marsh Blackbird. Lesser wing-coverts dark red (like venous blood), bor- 
• dered with pure white. Besides this obvious distinction from phceniceus, the bill is usually slen- 
derer and the tail is less rounded ; the gloss of the plumage is bluish, not greenish (appreciably 
so in the 9 as well as in the J^f). 9 with median wing-coverts white-edged. California and 
Oregon, especially coastwise ; resident or scarcely migratory. General habits the same ; nest 
and eggs indistinguishable. 
101. XANTHOCE'PHALUS. (Gr. ^avBos, xanthos, yeWow K€^a\ri, kephale, head.) Yellow - 
Headed Blackbirds. General characters of Agelceus; claws more developed, the lateral 
reaching much beyond base of the middle. Tail more nearly even, with narrower feathers. 
Wings long and pointed; tip formed by outer 3 quills. Colors black, white, and yellow. 
319. X. icteroce'phalus. (Gr. iKrepos, ikteros, Lat. icterus, yellow. Fig. 260.) Yellow-headed 
Blackbird. J': Black, including lores and small space around eye and bill; whole head 
otherwise, with the neck and breast, rich yellow, orange in high feather, the color extending 
