tip ice ee Ue Bs OeNy BeUictieis ke TeluNn 13 
of Texas. A rather uncommon characteristic of the species is that in spring 
migration the females precede the males. Another peculiarity of boat-tailed 
grackles is that as soon as incubation begins the males desert the females 
and from that time on remain in flocks by themselves. 
The boat-tails like water and often wade up to their breasts as they feed 
on aquatic insects or little fish. “They feed in small flocks even during the 
nesting season. Sometimes they nest in the sawgrass like redwing's, some- 
times in the willows among the herons, and again they may conceal their 
nests in the curtains of Spanish moss hanging from cypress trees.” 
BLACKBIRDS 
1. Red-winged blackbird: The red-winged blackbird is probably best 
known of blackbirds, as it occurs in one or another of fourteen subspecies 
over all of North America and most of Mexico. The more northern breed- 
ing birds winter in the southern breeding range. It is perhaps the most 
abundant and widely distributed native bird in North America. It is almost 
certain to be found in any marshes, sloughs, or low-lying wet meadows. 
The male red-wing has gorgeous scarlet epaulets with buffy borders. 
When the bird is at rest the scarlet is often concealed and only the buffy 
or yellowish margin is visible. The bi-colored red-wing of the western coast 
states has poppy-red shoulders with no pronounced buffy margin, while the 
tri-colored red-wing of California has the middle coverts white, in striking 
contrast to the dull crimson of the lesser wing coverts. After the breeding 
season the male red-wing looks much like the female, but still has redder 
shoulders than she does. Female red-wing’s are brownish birds, with tinges 
of red on cheeks, throat, and bend of wings. They are identified by their 
sharp-pointed bills and heavy, well-defined stripings below. 
The red-wing’s chuck, like that of other blackbirds, is froglike. He has 
also various whistles. His song has a liquid quality suggesting boggy ooze. 
When some dozens or hundreds of the birds sing together, their okalee or 
quong-ker-ee has a delightful quality. It is always melody to me. 
“T shake my head and I doubt me whether 
Your cultured strain has a charm for Pan 
When a blackbird sings in the sunshine weather, 
With the spots on his wings as red as fire, 
And his notes as sweet as Apollo’s lyre.” 
In migration the males arrive first; they are sometimes as much as ten 
days earlier than the females. Some hundreds in a flock not infrequently 
appear. After the females come the birds begin to scatter and mate. Red- 
wings often breed in communities in swamps, marshes, or meadows, but 
sometimes a pair go away by themselves. 
The nest, often of sedge grass, is commonly suspended among reeds, 
rushes, or cat-tails in a wet place not readily accessible to man. However, 
the birds adapt themselves to circumstances and sometimes nest in willows 
or upland shrubs, and sometimes even on the ground in a hayfield. One 
red-wing that I knew nested in a pine tree in the yard of a friend whose 
