372 
PASSERIFORMES 
498. Red- winged Blackbird, soldier blackbird, l’etourneau X epallettes. 
Agelaius phoeniceus. L, 9-51. Plate LXXII B. JVIale: black with brilliant red shoulders. 
Female: dark brown above, softly tinged and striped with rusty and dull ochre; below, 
striped with dull white and dark brown. 
Distinctions, The spring male, with his jet black body and the brilliant crimson and 
yellow shoulder bars formed of the upperwing-coverts, is unmistakable. The brown 
female, sharply striped below, is also easily recognizable. Young males have the black 
more or less feather edged with rusty and the red of the wings reduced to scattered spots 
of red or orange. 
Field Marks. The black body and red shoulders of the male. The female’s general 
blackbird appearance and the sharp striping below. The Red-wing has many notes 
common to nearly all the blackbirds, but the most distinctive one may be rendered a 
clear drawn-out “ O-ke-leeee ” or “O-ke-reeee” with a rising inflexion at the end. It is a 
characteristic and not unmusical sound of the marshes and sloughs. 
Nesting. In well-made structure of grasses tied to rushes or tides, above the water. 
Distribution. North America, from central Mackenzie south. In western Canada, 
across the continent, in all suitable reedy or tide marshes of the Prairie Provinces and 
southern British Columbia. 
SUBSPECIES. The Check-list recognizes a number of geographical races of this 
species. The Eastern Red- winged (l’Etourneau it epaulettes de l’Est) Agelaius phoeniceus 
phoeniceus occurs east of the Great Lakes, the Greater Red-wing (le Grand Etourneau it 
Epaulettes) Agelaius phoeniceus ardolegus inhabits the Prairie Provinces and northward. 
The bird of the interior valleys of southern British Columbia is referred to the Nevada Red- 
wing (l’Etourneau a Epaulettes du Nevada) Agelaius phoeniceus nevadensis , and that of 
the southwestern coast is the Northwestern Red-wing (I’Etourneau a Epaulettes du Nord- 
Ouest) Agelaius phoeniceus caurinus. The differences between these forms are so slight 
and variable as to be of little popular interest and only possible of recognition by the 
enthusiastic expert. 
No reedy marsh in Canada is complete without one or more pairs of 
Red-wings chasing each other or clinging to the cat-tails or tides, the males 
spreading their wings and tail and twisting themselves into constrained 
attitudes as t hey squeeze out their clear “O-ke-ree” with a roll on the last 
syllable, in sight and hearing of the females. In the spring the Black- 
birds usually arrive in large flocks of mixed species which keep together 
for a few days and then separate. The Red-wings repair to the marshes 
and before the reeds begin to grow they settle down to their domestic 
arrangements. When the family cares are over for the season all black- 
bird species unite again in flocks that darken the sky, roosting together 
in the marshes when possible, and scattering during the day in groups 
of various sizes which frequent the harvest fields. 
Economic Status. The character of its food makes the Red-wing 
decidedly beneficial. Weed seeds and injurious insects form 80 per cent 
of its food, and grain about 15 per cent. In July and August more grain 
is eaten, and in the early days of settlement when the acreage under culti- 
vation was small and blackbirds numerous, they were a serious menace 
to the crops. 
506. Orchard Oriole, l’oriole des vergers. Icterus spurius. L, 7-32. A small 
oriole, like the Baltimore (See Plate LXXIII A) with the orange of that bird replaced by 
seal-brown and with a black tail. The female is an even, dull green. The young male is 
like the female, but has a black throat. 
Distinctions. The seal-brown and black coloration of the male is unmistakable. The 
female has a certain resemblance to the female tanager, but is smaller and of more delicate 
shape and has a fine-pointed, unnotched bill (Compare Figures 462 and 465, page 377). 
Field Marks. Colour, size, and voice somewhat like that of the Baltimore Oriole, but 
richer and with characteristics of its own. 
Nesting. Nest woven of green grass hanging from a crotch. A beautiful structure, 
not as elaborate nor as deeply bagged as that of the Baltimore. 
