Chapter XI: Section IV: Crown rufous; body above, olive-green (2)

Mr. Ridgway also observed this bird in Ruby Valley where, among the wheat-fields, small companies were occasionally seen in August. He was informed that, near Salt Lake City, these birds are seen in May, and again late in the summer, when the grain is ripe.

Of all our unimitative and natural songsters the Bobolink is by far the most popular and attractive. Always original and peculiarly natural, its song is exquisitely musical. In the variety of its notes, in the rapidity with which they are uttered, and in the touching pathos, beauty, and melody of their tone and expression, its notes are not equalled by those of any other North American bird. We know of none, among our native feathered songsters, whose song resembles, or can be compared with it.

In the earliest approaches of spring, in Louisiana, when small flocks of male Bobolinks make their first appearance, they are said, by Mr. Audubon, to sing in concert; and their song thus given is at once exceedingly novel, interesting, and striking. Uttered with a volubility that even borders upon the burlesque and the ludicrous, the whole effect is greatly heightened by the singular and striking manner in which first one singer and then another, one following the other until all have joined their voices, take up the note and strike in, after the leader has set the example and given the signal. In this manner sometimes a party of thirty or forty Bobolinks will begin, one after the other, until the whole unite in producing an extraordinary medley, to which no pen can do justice, but which is described as very pleasant to listen to. All at once the music ceases with a suddenness not less striking and extraordinary. These concerts are repeated from time to time, usually as often as the flock alight. This performance may also be witnessed early in April, in the vicinity of Washington, the Smithsonian grounds being a favorite place of resort.

By the time these birds have reached, in their spring migrations, the 40th parallel of latitude, they no longer move in large flocks, but have begun to separate into small parties, and finally into pairs. In New England the Bobolink treats us to no such concerts as those described by Audubon, where many voices join in creating their peculiar jingling melody. When they first appear, usually after the middle of May, they are in small parties, composed of either sex, absorbed in their courtships and overflowing with song. When two or three male Bobolinks, decked out in their gayest spring apparel, are paying their attentions to the same drab-colored female, contrasting so strikingly in her sober brown dress, their performances are quite entertaining, each male endeavoring to outsing the other. The female appears coy and retiring, keeping closely to the ground, but always attended by the several aspirants for her affection. After a contest, often quite exciting, the rivalries are adjusted, the rejected suitors are driven off by their more fortunate competitor, and the happy pair begin to put in order a new home. It is in these love-quarrels that their song appears to the greatest advantage. They pour out incessantly their strains of quaint but charming music, now on the ground, now on the wing, now on the top of a fence, a low bush, or the swaying stalk of a plant that bends with their weight. The great length of their song, the immense number of short and variable notes of which it is composed, the volubility and confused rapidity with which they are poured forth, the eccentric breaks, in the midst of which we detect the words “bob-o-link” so distinctly enunciated, unite to form a general result to which we can find no parallel in any of the musical performances of our other song-birds. It is at once a unique and a charming production. Nuttall speaks of their song as monotonous, which is neither true nor consistent with his own description of it. To other ears they seem ever wonderfully full of variety, pathos, and beauty.

When their contests are ended, and the mated pair take possession of their selected meadow, and prepare to construct their nest and rear their family, then we may find the male bird hovering in the air over the spot where his homely partner is brooding over her charge. All this while he is warbling forth his incessant and happy love-song; or else he is swinging on some slender stalk or weed that bends under him, ever overflowing with song and eloquent with melody. As domestic cares and parental responsibilities increase, his song becomes less and less frequent. After a while it has degenerated into a few short notes, and at length ceases altogether. The young in due time assume the development of mature birds, and all wear the sober plumage of the mother. And now there also appears a surprising change in the appearance of our gayly attired musician. His showy plumage of contrasting white and black, so conspicuous and striking, changes with almost instant rapidity into brown and drab, until he is no longer distinguishable, either by plumage or note, from his mate or young.

At the north, where the Bobolinks breed, they are not known to molest the crops, confining their food almost entirely to insects, or the seeds of valueless weeds, in the consumption of which they confer benefit, rather than harm. At the south they are accused of injuring the young wheat as they pass northward in their spring migrations, and of plundering the rice plantations on their return. About the middle of August they appear in almost innumerable flocks among the marshes of the Delaware River. There they are known as Reedbirds. Two weeks later they begin to swarm among the rice plantations of South Carolina. There they take the name of Ricebirds. In October they again pass on southward, and make another halt among the West India Islands. There they feed upon the seeds of the Guinea-grass, upon which they become exceedingly fat. In Jamaica they receive a new appellation, and are called Butterbirds. They are everywhere sought after by sportsmen, and are shot in immense numbers for the table of the epicure. More recently it has been ascertained that these birds feed greedily upon the larvæ of the destructive cotton-worm, and in so doing render an immense service to the cultivators of Sea Island cotton.

Dr. Bryant, in his visit to the Bahamas, was eye-witness to the migrations northward of these birds, as they passed through those islands. He first noted them on the 6th of May, towards sunset. A number of flocks—he counted nine—were flying to the westward. On the following day the country was filled with these birds, and men and boys turned out in large numbers to shoot them. He examined a quantity of them, and all were males in full plumage. Numerous flocks continued to arrive that day and the following, which was Sunday. On Monday, among those that were shot were many females. On Tuesday but few were to be seen, and on Wednesday they had entirely disappeared.

Near Washington, Dr. Coues observed the Bobolink to be only a spring and autumnal visitant, from May 1st to the 15th distributed abundantly about orchards and meadows, generally in flocks. In autumn they frequented in immense flocks the tracts of _Zizania aquatica_, along the Potomac, from August 20 to October.

The Bobolink invariably builds its nest upon the ground, usually in a meadow, and conceals it so well among the standing grass that it is very difficult of discovery until the grass is cut. The female is very wary in leaving or in returning to her nest, always alighting upon the ground, or rising from it, at a distance from her nest. The male bird, too, if the nest is approached, seeks to decoy off the intruder by his anxiety over a spot remote from the object of his solicitude. The nest is of the simplest description, made usually of a few flexible stems of grasses carefully interwoven into a shallow and compact nest. The eggs, five or six in number, have a dull white ground, in some tinged with a light drab, in others with olive. They are generally spotted and blotched over the entire egg with a rufous-brown, intermingled with lavender. They are pointed at one end, and measure .90 by .70 of an inch. They have but one brood in a season.

In some eggs, especially those found in more northern localities, the ground-color is drab, with a strong tinge of purple. Over this is diffused a series of obscure lavender-color, and then overlying these are larger and bolder blotches of wine-colored brown. In a few eggs long and irregular lines of dark purple, so deep as to be undistinguishable from black, are added. These eggs are quite pointed at one end.

GENUS MOLOTHRUS, SWAINSON.

_Molothrus_, SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 277; supposed by
Cabanis to be meant for _Molobrus_. (Type, _Fringilla pecoris_,
GM.)

[Line drawing: _Molothrus pecoris._
32446]

GEN. CHAR. Bill short, stout, about two thirds the length of head; the commissure straight, culmen and gonys slightly curved, convex, the former broad, rounded, convex, and running back on the head in a point. Lateral toes nearly equal, reaching the base of the middle one, which is shorter than tarsus; claws rather small. Tail nearly even; wings long, pointed, the first quill longest. As far as known, the species make no nest, but deposit the eggs in the nests of other, usually smaller, birds.

The genus _Molothrus_ has the bill intermediate between _Dolichonyx_ and _Agelaius_. It has the culmen unusually broad between the nostrils, and it extends back some distance into the forehead. The difference in the structure of the feet from _Dolichonyx_ is very great.

Species of _Molothrus_ resemble some of the _Fringillidæ_ more than any other of the _Icteridæ_. The bill is, however, more straight, the tip without notch; the culmen running back farther on the forehead, the nostrils being situated fully one third or more of the total length from its posterior extremity. This is seldom the case in the American families. The entire absence of notch in the bill and of bristles along the rictus are strong features. The nostrils are perfectly free from any overhanging feathers or bristles. The pointed wings, with the first quill longest, or nearly equal to second, and the tail with its broad rounded feathers, shorter than the wings, are additional features to be specially noted.

Molothrus pecoris, SWAINSON.

COW BLACKBIRD; COWBIRD.

_Fringilla pecoris_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 910
(female).—LATH. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 443.—LICHT. Verzeich.
1823, Nos. 230, 231. _Emberiza pecoris_, WILS. Am. Orn. II,
1810, 145, pl. xviii, f. 1, 2, 3. _Icterus pecoris_, BONAP.
Obs. Wilson, 1824, No. 88.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 493; V,
1839, 233, 490, pls. xcix and ccccxxiv. _Icterus (Emberizoides)
pecoris_, BON. Syn. 1828, 53.—IB. Specchio comp. No.
41.—NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 178, (2d ed.,) 190. _Passerina
pecoris_, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict. XXV, 1819, 22. _Psarocolius
pecoris_, WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 20. _Molothrus pecoris_,
SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 277.—RICH. List, 1837.—BON.
List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850, 436.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 139.—IB.
Birds Am. IV, 1842, 16, pl. ccxii.—CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1851,
193.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 524.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1,
1870, 257.—SAMUELS, 339.—ALLEN, B. Fla. 284. _? Oriolus
fuscus_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 393. _? Sturnus obscurus_,
GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 804 (evidently a _Molothrus_, and
probably, but not certainly, the present species). _Molothrus
obscurus_, CASSIN, Pr. Ph. Ac. 1866, 18 (Mira Flores, L.
Cal.).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 260. “_Icterus
emberizoides_, DAUDIN.” _? Sturnus junceti_, LATH. Ind. I,
1790, 326 (same as _Sturnus obscurus_, GM.). _? Fringilla
ambigua_, NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 484 (young). _Sturnus
nove-hispaniæ_, BRISS. II, 448.

SP. CHAR. Second quill longest; first scarcely shorter. Tail nearly even, or very slightly rounded. Male with the head, neck, and anterior half of the breast light chocolate-brown, rather lighter above; rest of body lustrous black, with a violet-purple gloss next to the brown, of steel blue on the back, and of green elsewhere. Female light olivaceous-brown all over, lighter on the head and beneath. Bill and feet black. Length, 8 inches; wing, 4.42; tail, 3.40.

HAB. United States from the Atlantic to California; not found immediately on the coast of the Pacific? Orizaba (SCL. 1857, 213); Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 492); Fort Whipple, Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S, 1866, 90); Nevada and Utah (RIDGWAY); Mazatlan, Tehuantepec, Cape St. Lucas.

The young bird of the year is brown above, brownish-white beneath; the throat immaculate. A maxillary stripe and obscure streaks thickly crowded across the whole breast and sides. There is a faint indication of a paler superciliary stripe. The feathers of the upper parts are all margined with paler. There are also indications of light bands on the wings. These markings are all obscure, but perfectly appreciable, and their existence in adult birds of any species may be considered as embryonic, and showing an inferiority in degree to the species with the under parts perfectly plain.

Specimens from the west appear to have a rather longer and narrower bill than those from the east. Summer birds of Cape St. Lucas and the Rio Grande are considerably smaller (var. _obscurus_, Cassin). Length about 6.50; wing, 4.00; tail, 3.00. Some winter skins from the same region are equal in size to the average.

Birds of this species breeding south of the Rio Grande, as well as those from Cape St. Lucas, Mazatlan, etc., are very much smaller than those nesting within the United States; but the transition between the extremes of size is so gradual that it is almost impossible to strike an average of characters for two races. The extremes of size in this species are as follows:—

_Largest._ (11,271, ♂, Fort Bridger.)
Wing, 4.60; tail, 3.35; culmen, .72; tarsus, 1.03.
_Smallest._ (17,297, ♂, Mira Flores, L. C.)
” 3.80; ” 2.65; ” .60; ” .84.

HABITS. The common Cow Blackbird has a very extended distribution from the Atlantic to California, and from Texas to Canada, and probably to regions still farther north. They have not been traced to the Pacific coast, though abundant on that of the Atlantic. Dr. Cooper thinks that a few winter in the Colorado Valley, and probably also in the San Joaquin Valley.

This species is at all times gregarious and polygamous, never mating, and never exhibiting any signs of either conjugal or parental affections. Like the Cuckoos of Europe, our Cow Blackbird never constructs a nest of her own, and never hatches out or attempts to rear her own offspring, but imposes her eggs upon other birds; and most of these, either unconscious of the imposition or unable to rid themselves of the alien, sit upon and hatch the stranger, and in so doing virtually destroy their own offspring,—for the eggs of the Cowbird are the first hatched, usually two days before the others. The nursling is much larger in size, filling up a large portion of the nest, and is insatiable in its appetite, always clamoring to be fed, and receiving by far the larger share of the food brought to the nest; its foster-companions, either starved or stifled, soon die, and their dead bodies are removed, it is supposed, by their parents. They are never found near the nest, as they would be if the young Cow Blackbird expelled them as does the Cuckoo; indeed, Mr. Nuttall has seen parent birds removing the dead young to a distance from the nest, and there dropping them.

For the most part the Cowbird deposits her egg in the nest of a bird much smaller than herself, but this is not always the case. I have known of their eggs having been found in the nests of _Turdus mustelinus_ and _T. fuscescens_, _Sturnella magna_ and _S. neglecta_. In each instance they had been incubated. How the young Cowbird generally fares when hatched in the nests of birds of equal or larger size, and the fate of the foster-nurslings, is an interesting subject for investigation. Mr. J. A. Allen saw, in Western Iowa, a female _Harporhynchus rufus_ feeding a nearly full grown Cowbird,—a very interesting fact, and the only evidence we now have that these birds are reared by birds of superior size.

It lays also in the nests of the common Catbird, but the egg never remains there long after the owner of the nest becomes aware of the intrusion. The list of the birds in whose nests the Cow Blackbird deposits her egg and it is reared is very large. The most common nurses of these foundlings in New England are _Spizella socialis_, _Empidonax minimus_, _Geothlypis trichas_, and all our eastern _Vireos_, namely, _olivaceus_, _solitarius_, _noveboracensis_, _gilvus_, and _flavifrons_. Besides these, I have found their eggs in the nests of _Polioptila cærulea_, _Mniotilta varia_, _Helminthophaga ruficapilla_, _Dendroica virens_, _D. blackburniæ_, _D. pennsylvanica_ and _D. discolor_, _Seiurus aurocapillus_, _Setophaga ruticilla_, _Cyanospiza cyanea_, _Contopus virens_, etc. I have also known of their eggs having been found in the nests of _Vireo belli_ and _V. pusillus_, and _Cyanospiza amœna_. Dr. Cooper has found their egg in the nest of _Icteria virens_; and Mr. T. H. Jackson of West Chester, Penn., in those of _Empidonax acadicus_ and _Pyranga rubra_.

Usually not more than a single Cowbird’s egg is found in the same nest, though it is not uncommon to find two; and in a few instances three and even four eggs have been met with. In one instance Mr. Trippe mentions having found in the nest of a Black and White Creeper, besides three eggs of the owner of the nest, no less than five of the parasite. Mr. H. S. Rodney reports having found, in Potsdam, N. Y., May 15, 1868, a nest of _Zonotrichia leucophrys_ of two stories, in one of which was buried a Cowbird’s egg, and in the upper there were two more of the same, with three eggs of the rightful owners. In the spring of 1869 the same gentleman found a nest of the _Sayornis fuscus_ with three Cowbird’s eggs and three of her own.

Mr. Vickary, of Lynn, found, in the spring of 1860, the nest of a _Seiurus aurocapillus_, in which, with only one egg of the rightful owner, there were no less than four of the Cowbird. All five eggs were perfectly fresh, and had not been set upon. In the summer of the preceding year the same gentleman found a nest of the Red-eyed Vireo containing three eggs of the Vireo and four of the Cow Blackbird.

How the offspring from these eggs may all fare when more than one of these voracious nurslings are hatched in the same nest, is an interesting problem, well worthy the attention of some patiently inquiring naturalist to solve.

The Cow Blackbird appears in New England with a varying degree of promptness, sometimes as early as the latter part of March, and as frequently not until the middle of April. Nuttall states that none are seen in Massachusetts after the middle of June until the following October, and Allen, that they are there all the summer. My own observations do not correspond with the statement of either of these gentlemen. They certainly do become quite rare in the eastern part of that State after the third week in June, but that all the females are not gone is proved by the constant finding of freshly laid eggs up to July 1. I have never been able to find a Cow Blackbird in Eastern Massachusetts between the first of July and the middle of September. This I attribute to the absence of sufficient food. In the Cambridge marshes they remain until all the seeds have been consumed, and only reappear when the new crop is edible.

This Blackbird is a general feeder, eating insects, apparently in preference, and wild seed. They derive their name of Cow Blackbird from their keeping about that animal, and finding, either from her parasitic insects or her droppings, opportunities for food. They feed on the ground, and occasionally scratch for insects. At the South, to a limited extent, they frequent the rice-fields in company with the Redwinged Blackbird.

Mr. Nuttall states that if a Cow Blackbird’s egg is deposited in a nest alone it is uniformly forsaken, and he also enumerates the Summer Yellowbird as one of the nurses of the Cowbird. In both respects I think he is mistaken. So far from forsaking her nest when one of these eggs is deposited, the Red-eyed Vireo has been known to commence incubation without having laid any of her own eggs, and also to forsake her nest when the intrusive egg has been taken and her own left. The _D. æstiva_, I think, invariably covers up and destroys the Cowbird’s eggs when deposited before her own, and even when deposited afterwards.

The Cow Blackbird has no attractions as a singer, and has nothing that deserves the name of song. His utterances are harsh and unmelodious.

In September they begin to collect in large flocks, in localities favorable for their sustenance. The Fresh Pond marshes in Cambridge were once one of their chosen places of resort, in which they seemed to collect late in September, as if coming from great distances. There they remained until late in October, when they passed southward.

Mr. Ridgway only met with this species in two places, the valley of the Humboldt in September, and in June in the Truckee Valley. Their eggs were also obtained in the Wahsatch Mountains, deposited in the nest of _Passerella schistacea_, and in Bear River Valley in the nest of _Geothlypis trichas_.

Mr. Boardman informs me that the Cow Blackbird is a very rare bird in the neighborhood of Calais, Me., so much so that he does not see one of these birds once in five years, even as a bird of passage.

The eggs of this species are of a rounded oval, though some are more oblong than others, and are nearly equally rounded at either end. They vary from .85 of an inch to an inch in length, and from .65 to .70 in breadth. Their ground-color is white. In some it is so thickly covered with fine dottings of ashy and purplish-brown that the ground is not distinguishable. In others the egg is blotched with bold dashes of purple and wine-colored brown.

On the Rio Grande the eggs of the smaller southern race were found in the nests of _Vireo belli_, and in each of the nests of the _Vireo pusillus_ found near Camp Grant, Arizona, there was an egg of this species. At Cape St. Lucas, Mr. Xantus found their eggs in nests of the _Polioptila melanura_. We have no information in regard to their habits, and can only infer that they must be substantially the same as those of the northern birds.

The eggs of the var. _obscurus_ exhibit a very marked variation in size from those of the var. _pecoris_, and have a different appearance, though their colors are nearly identical. Their ground-color is white, and their markings a claret-brown. These markings are fewer, smaller, and less generally distributed, and the ground-color is much more apparent. They measure .60 by .55 of an inch, and their capacity as compared with the eggs of the _pecoris_ is as 33 to 70,—a variation that is constant, and apparently too large to be accounted for on climatic differences.

GENUS AGELAIUS, VIEILL.

_Agelaius_, VIEILLOT, “Analyse, 1816.” (Type, _Oriolus phœniceus_, L.)

[Line drawing: _Agelaius phœniceus._
1386]

GEN. CHAR. First quill shorter than second; claws short; the outer lateral scarcely reaching the base of the middle. Culmen depressed at base, parting the frontal feathers; length equal to that of the head, shorter than tarsus. Both mandibles of equal thickness and acute at tip, the edges much curved, the culmen, gonys, and commissure nearly straight or slightly sinuated; the length of bill about twice its height. Tail moderate, rounded, or very slightly graduated. Wings pointed, reaching to end of lower tail-coverts. Colors black with red shoulders in North American species. One West Indian with orange-buff. Females streaked except in two West Indian species.

The nostrils are small, oblong, overhung by a membranous scale. The bill is higher than broad at the base. There is no division between the anterior tarsal scutellæ and the single plate on the outside of the tarsus.

The females of two West Indian species are uniform black. Of these the male of one, _A. assimilis_ of Cuba, is undistinguishable from that of _A. phœniceus_; and in fact we may without impropriety consider the former as a melanite race of the latter, the change appreciable only in the female. The _A. humeralis_, also of Cuba, is smaller, and black, with the lesser coverts brownish orange-buff.

Species and Varieties.

COMMON CHARACTERS. _Males_ glossy black without distinct bluish lustre, lesser wing-coverts bright red. _Females_ without any red, and either wholly black or variegated with light streaks, most conspicuous below.

A. phœniceus. Tail rounded. Red of shoulders a bright
scarlet tint. Black of plumage without bluish lustre.
_Females_ with wing-coverts edged with brownish, or
without any light edgings at all.

_a._ Female continuous deep black, unvariegated.

_Middle wing-coverts wholly buff in male._

Wing, 4.40; tail, 3.80; culmen, .95; tarsus, 1.00.
_Hab._ Cuba.

_b._ Females striped beneath var. _assimilis_.[30]

Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.85; culmen, .96; tarsus, 1.10.
_Female._ White stripes on lower parts exceeding the
dusky ones in width; a conspicuous lighter
superciliary stripe, and one strongly indicated on
middle of the crown. _Hab._ Whole of North America,
south to Guatemala var. _phœniceus_.

_Middle wing-coverts black, except at base._

Wing, 5.00; tail, 3.90; culmen, .90; tarsus, 1.10.
_Female._ White stripes on lower parts narrower than
dusky ones; the posterior portion beneath being almost
continuously dusky. No trace of median stripe on
crown, and the superciliary one indistinct. _Hab._
Pacific Province of United States, south through
Western Mexico var. _gubernator_.

_Middle wing-coverts wholly white in male._

B. tricolor. Tail square. Red of the shoulders a
brownish-scarlet, or burnt-carmine tint. Black of the
plumage (both sexes at all ages) with a silky bluish
lustre. _Female_ with wing-coverts edged with pure white.

Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.70; culmen, .97; tarsus, 1.13.
_Female._ Like that of _gubernator_, but with scarcely
any brownish tinge to the plumage, and the lesser
wing-coverts sharply bordered with pure white. _Hab._
California (only ?).

[30] _Agelaius assimilis_, GUNDL. CABANIS, Journal, IX, 12
(nest).—IB. Boston Journal, VI, 1853, 316.

Agelaius phœniceus, VIEILLOT.

SWAMP BLACKBIRD; REDWING BLACKBIRD.

_Oriolus phœniceus_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 161.—GMELIN, I,
1788, 386.—LATH. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 428. _Agelaius phœniceus_,
“VIEILLOT, Anal. 1816.”—SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831,
280.—BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850, 430.—AUD. Syn.
1839, 141.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 31, pl. ccxvi.—BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 526.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 263.—COOPER &
SUCKLEY, 207.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 261.—SAMUELS,
341.—_Allen_, Birds E. Fla. 284. _Icterus phœniceus_, LICHT.
Verz. 1823, No. 188.—BON. Obs. Wils. 1824, No. 68.—AUD. Orn.
Biog. I, 1831, 348; V, 1839, 487, pl. lxvii. _Psarocolius
phœniceus_, WAGLER, Syst. Nat. 1827, No. 10. _Icterus
(Xanthornus) phœniceus_, BONAP. Syn. 1828, 52.—NUTTALL, Man.
I, 1832, 167, (2d ed.,) 179. _Sturnus prædatorius_, WILSON, Am.
Orn. IV, 1811, 30, pl. xxx. _Redwinged Oriole_, PENNANT, Arctic
Zoöl. II, 255.

SP. CHAR. Tail much rounded; the lateral feathers about half an inch shorter. Fourth quill longest; first about as long as the fifth. Bill large, stout; half as high, or more than half as high, as long.

_Male._ General color uniform lustrous velvet-black, with a greenish reflection. Shoulders and lesser wing-coverts of a bright crimson or vermilion-red. Middle coverts brownish-yellow, or buff, and usually paler towards the tips.

_Female._ Brown above, the feathers edged or streaked with rufous-brown and yellowish; beneath white, streaked with brown. Forepart of throat, superciliary, and median stripe strongly tinged with brownish-yellow. Length of male, 9.50; wing, 5.00; tail, 4.15.

HAB. United States from Atlantic to Pacific; north to Great Slave Lake, Fort Resolution, Fort Simpson, Fort Rae, etc.; Guatemala (SCLATER, Ibis I, 19; breeding); Costa Rica (LAWRENCE, America, N. Y. Lyc. IX, 104); Bahamas (BRYANT, B. P. VII, 1859); Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 65, 492); Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 90; Fort Whipple); Yucatan.

There is some variation in the shade of red on the shoulders, which is sometimes of the color of arterial blood or bright crimson. It never, however, has the hæmatitic tint of the red in _A. tricolor_. The middle coverts are usually uniform brownish-yellow to the very tips; sometimes some of these middle coverts are tipped at the end with black, but these black tips are usually of slight extent, and indicate immaturity, or else a transition of hybridism or race to _A. gubernator_.

There is also some variation in the size and proportions of the bill. The most striking is in a series of three from the Red River Settlement, decidedly larger than more southern ones (wings, 5.15; tail, 4.40). The bill is about as long as that of Pennsylvania specimens, but much stouter, the thickness at the base being considerably more than half the length of the culmen. One specimen from San Elizario, Texas, has the bill of much the same size and proportions.

The male of _A. assimilis_ of Cuba cannot be distinguished from small-sized males of _phœniceus_ from the United States, the females, however, as in nearly all West Indian _Icteridæ_, are uniform though rather dull black. This we consider as simply a local variation of melanism, not indicating a specific difference. A young male is similar, but with the lesser coverts red, tipped with black. On the other extreme, streaked female and young birds from Lower California, Arizona, and Western Mexico are much lighter than in eastern birds, the chin, throat, jugulum, and superciliary stripe tinged with a peculiar peach-blossom pink; not buff, sometimes tinged with orange.

HABITS. The much abused and persecuted Redwinged Blackbird is found throughout North America as far north as the 57th parallel, from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and it breeds more or less abundantly wherever found, from Florida and Texas to the plains of the Saskatchewan. According to the observations of Mr. Salvin, it is resident all the year in Guatemala. It breeds among the reeds at the lake of Dueñas, deferring its incubation until the month of June. The females congregate in large flocks near the lake, feeding about the swampy grass on the edge of the water, the males keeping separate. At Orizaba, Mexico, Sumichrast regarded this species as only a bird of passage.

On the Pacific coast, it is only found, in any numbers, in Washington Territory and in Oregon, about cultivated tracts. Dr. Cooper thinks that none inhabit the bare and mountainous prairie regions east of the Cascade Mountains. Small flocks wintered at Vancouver about stables and haystacks. Dr. Suckley speaks of them as quite common west of the Cascade Mountains, arriving from the South in March. In all the marshy places of the entire West Mr. Ridgway met with this species and their nests in great abundance. In all respects he found the western birds identical with the eastern. Their nests were in low bushes in overflowed meadows.

Donald Gunn found this species common in the Red River Settlements; and Richardson met with them on the Saskatchewan, where they arrive in May, but do not breed until the 20th of June.

In New England this Blackbird is generally migratory, though instances are on record where a few have been known to remain throughout the winter in Massachusetts. They are among the earliest to arrive in spring, coming, in company with the Rusty Grakle, as early as the 10th of March. Those which remain to breed usually come a month later. They breed throughout New England, as also in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

It is equally abundant and resident in Arizona and Texas, and in the adjoining portions of Mexico. On the Rio Grande, Mr. Dresser found it very abundant, breeding on the banks of the rivers and streams. In the winter season these birds are found in immense flocks in the lower parts of Virginia, both the Carolinas, and all the Gulf States, particularly near the sea-coast and among old fields of rice and grain. Wilson states that once, passing, in January, through the lower counties of Virginia, he frequently witnessed the aerial evolutions of great bodies of these birds. Sometimes they appeared as if driven about like an enormous black cloud carried before the wind, varying every moment in shape. Sometimes they rose up suddenly from the fields with a noise like thunder, while the glittering of innumerable wings of the brightest vermilion, amid the black cloud, occasioned a very striking effect. At times the whole congregated multitude would suddenly alight in some detached grove and commence one general concert, that he could plainly distinguish at the distance of more than two miles, and when listened to at a distance of a quarter of a mile, the flow of its cadences was grand, and even sublime.

He adds that with the Redwings the whole winter season seems one continued carnival. They find abundant food in the old fields of rice, buckwheat, and grain, and much of their time is spent in aerial movements, or in grand vocal performances.

Early in March these large assemblies break up. A part separate in pairs and remain among the Southern swamps. The greater portion, in smaller flocks, the male bird leading the way, commence their movements northward. Late in April they have all re-established themselves in their chosen haunts, have mated, and are preparing to make their nests. In Pennsylvania this is done in May, in New England early in June, and farther north a fortnight later. For their nest they invariably select either the borders of streams or low marshy situations. These they usually place in low bushes, such as grow in moist situations, among thick bunches of reeds, or even on the ground. In one instance, in an island on the marshes of Essex River, Mr. Maynard found these nests placed in trees twenty feet from the ground. One nest was built on a slender sapling at the distance of fourteen feet from the ground. The nest was pensile, like that of the Baltimore Oriole. It was woven of bleached eel-grass.

When built in a bush, the outer, basket-like frame of the nest is carefully and strongly interwoven with, or fastened around, the adjacent twigs, and, though somewhat rudely put together, is woven firmly and compactly. Within this is packed a mass of coarse materials, with an inner nest of sedges and grasses. The outer framework is usually made of rushes and strong leaves of the iris. The male bird is a very attentive and watchful parent, constantly on the lookout for the approach of danger, and prompt to do all in his power to avert it, approaching close to the intruder, and earnestly remonstrating against the aggression. If the nest is pillaged, for several days he evinces great distress, and makes frequent lamentations, but soon prepares to remedy the disaster. So tenacious are they of a selected locality, that I have known the same pair to build three nests within as many weeks in the same bush, after having been robbed twice. The third time the pair succeeded in raising their brood.

In New England these birds have but one brood in a season. Farther south they are said to have three or more. In August they begin to collect in small flocks largely composed of young birds. The latter do not reach their full plumage until their third summer, but breed in their immature plumage the summer following their appearance. When the Indian corn is in the milk, these birds are said to collect in numbers, and to commit great depredations upon it. As soon, however, as the corn hardens, they desist from these attacks, and seek other food. In the grain-growing States they gather in immense swarms and commit great havoc, and although they are shot in immense numbers, and though their ranks are thinned by the attacks of hawks, it seems to have but little effect upon the survivors. These scenes of pillage are, for the most part, confined to the low sections, near the sea-coast, and only last during a short period, when the corn is in a condition to be eaten.

On the other hand, these Blackbirds more than compensate the farmer for these brief episodes of mischief, by the immense benefits they confer in the destruction of grub-worms, caterpillars, and various kinds of larvæ, the secret and deadly enemies of vegetation. During the months of March, April, May, June, and July, their food is almost wholly insects, and during that period the amount of their insect food, all of it of the most noxious kinds, is perfectly enormous. These they both consume themselves and feed to their young. Wilson estimated the number of insects destroyed by these birds in a single season, in the United States, at twelve thousand millions.

The notes of this bird are very various and indescribable. The most common one sounds like _con-cur-ee_. But there is also an almost endless mingling of guttural, creaking, or clear utterances that defy description.

Their eggs vary greatly in size; the largest measures 1.08 inches by .82 of an inch, the smallest .90 by .65. They average about an inch in length and .77 of an inch in breadth. They are oval in shape, have a light-bluish ground, and are marbled, lined, and blotched with markings of light and dark purple and black. These markings are almost wholly about the larger end, and are very varying.

Agelaius phœniceus, var. gubernator, BON.

CRIMSON-SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD.

_Psarocolius gubernator_, WAGLER, Isis, 1832, iv, 281. _Agelaius
gubernator_, BON. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 430.—AUD.
Syn. 1839, 141.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 29, pl.
ccxv.—NEWBERRY, P. R. R. Rep. VI, IV, 1857, 86.—BAIRD, Birds
N. Am. 1858, 529.—HEERM. X, S, 53 (nest).—COOPER, Orn. Cal.
I, 1870, 263. _Icterus_ (_Zanthornus_) _gubernator_, NUTTALL,
Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 187.

SP. CHAR. Bill rather shorter than the head, without any longitudinal sulci, but with faint traces of transverse ones at the base of the lower jaw. Tail rounded. First quill nearly equal to the fourth.

_Male._ Throughout of a lustrous velvety-black, with a greenish reflection. The lesser coverts rich crimson; the middle coverts brownish-yellow at the base, but the exposed portion black. Wing, 5.00; tail, 3.90; culmen, .90; tarsus, 1.10.

_Female._ Nearly uniform dark slaty-brown; an indistinct superciliary stripe, an indication of a maxillary stripe, and blended streaks on chin and throat delicate pale peach-blossom pink, this on the jugulum interrupted by dusky streaks running in longitudinal series; lesser wing-coverts tinged with dark wine-red. Wings with just appreciable paler edges to the feathers. Wing, 4.20; tail, 3.20.

HAB. Pacific Province of United States, and Western Mexico, to Colima; Western Nevada (RIDGWAY). ? Xalapa (SCLATER, 1859, 365).

In the female and all the immature stages, the dusky beneath is largely in excess of the light streaks; the superciliary light stripe is badly defined, and there is no trace of a median light stripe on the crown. These characters distinguish this race from _phœniceus_; while the rounded instead of square tail, and brown instead of pure white border to middle wing-coverts, distinguish it from corresponding stages of _tricolor_.

HABITS. The Crimson-shouldered Blackbird was first met with by Mr. Townsend, on the Columbia River, where two specimens were obtained, which were described by Mr. Audubon, in his Synopsis, in 1839. No information in regard to its habits, distribution, or nesting, was obtained by either Mr. Townsend or by his companion, Mr. Nuttall.

This species, or local race, whichever it is considered, occurs from the Columbia River south throughout California. It is given doubtingly as also from the Colorado River, but Dr. Cooper was only able to detect there the common _phœniceus_. According to the observations of that careful naturalist, this species is chiefly found in the warmer interior of California, Santa Cruz being the only point on the coast where he has met with it. He found it in scattered pairs, in May, throughout the Coast Range, even to the summits, where there are small marshes full of rushes, in which they build. He has not been able to detect any difference between the habits and notes of this bird and the common Redwing. The fact that specimens with entirely red shoulders seem limited to the middle of the State, or are rare along the coast, while most of those on the coast closely resemble the eastern bird, Dr. Cooper regards as suggestive of its being only a local race, though said to occur also in Mexico.

During the summer this species is said to emit a variety of sweet and liquid notes, delivered from some tree near its favorite marsh. These are also sometimes mingled with jingling and creaking sounds.

Dr. Suckley, in his Report on the Zoölogy of Washington Territory, expresses the opinion, that, although a specimen of this bird is reported as having been taken by Townsend on the Columbia, it is very rarely found so far north, as he never met with it in Washington Territory, and has never been able to hear of any other specimen having been found there.

Dr. Kennerly, in his Report on the birds observed in the survey of the 35th parallel, states that during the march along Bill Williams Fork, and along the Great Colorado and the Mohave Rivers, this species was found quite numerous. They were more abundant still along the creeks and swampy grounds that were passed as they approached the settlements of California. Large flocks could there be seen whirling around in graceful curves, like dark clouds, chattering joyfully as they moved along, or settling as a black veil on the topmost branches of some tree, indulging loudly in their harsh music.

In his Report of the birds observed in the survey under Lieutenant Williamson, Dr. Heermann mentions finding this species abundant, and, in the fall season, as associated with _Molothrus pecoris_ and _A. tricolor_. Its nest he found built in the willow bushes and tussocks of grass above the level of the water, in the marshes. There were but a few pairs together, and in this respect they differ from the _tricolor_, which prefers dry situations near water, and which congregate by thousands while breeding. The nest was composed of mud and fine roots, and lined with fine grasses. The eggs, four in number, he describes as pale blue, dashed with spots and lines of black.

Neither this nor the _tricolor_ was detected by Dr. Coues in Arizona.

These Blackbirds were found by Mr. Ridgway abundant in the marshy regions of California, but they were rarely met with east of the Sierra Nevada. A few individuals were collected in Nevada in the valley of the Truckee. A few pairs were found breeding among the _tulé_ sloughs and marshes. The nests found in the Truckee Reservations were built in low bushes in wet meadows.

A nest procured by Dr. Cooper from the summit of the Coast Range was built of grass and rushes, and lined with finer grass. The eggs are described as pale greenish-white, with large curving streaks and spots of dark brown, mostly at the large end. They are said to measure one inch by .75 of an inch.

Eggs of this variety in my cabinet, taken in California by Dr. Heermann, are of a rounded-oval shape, nearly equally obtuse at either end, and varying in length from .90 of an inch to an inch, and in breadth from .70 to .80. Their ground-color is a light blue, fading into a bluish-white, marked only around the larger end with waving lines of dark brown, much lighter in shade than the markings of the _phœniceus_ usually are.

Agelaius tricolor, BONAP.

RED AND WHITE SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD.

_Icterus tricolor_, “NUTTALL,” AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, I, pl.
ccclxxxviii.—NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 186. _Agelaius
tricolor_, BON. List, 1838.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 141.—IB. Birds
Am. IV, 1842, 27, pl. ccxiv.—HEERM. X, S, 53 (nest).—BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 530.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 265.

SP. CHAR. Tail nearly even. Second and third quills longest; first a little shorter than the fourth. Bill slender, not half as high as long.

_Male._ General color uniform lustrous velvet-black, with a strong silky-bluish reflection. Shoulders and lesser wing-coverts brownish-red, of much the color of venous blood; the median coverts of a well-defined and nearly pure white, with sometimes a brownish tinge. Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.70; culmen, .97; tarsus, 1.13.

_Female._ General color dusky slaty-brown, faintly variegated on head also by lighter streaks; middle wing-coverts broadly and sharply bordered with pure white. An obsolete superciliary and maxillary stripe of grayish-white. Beneath grayish-white for anterior half, with narrow streaks of dusky, this color gradually prevailing posteriorly, the sides, flanks, and crissum being nearly uniform dusky. Wing, 4.25; tail, 3.20.

HAB. Pacific Province of United States, from Columbia River southward, not yet found out of California and Oregon.

Immature males sometimes have the white on the wing tinged with brownish-yellow, as in _A. phœniceus_. The red, however, has the usual brownish-orange shade so much darker and duller than the brilliantly scarlet shoulders of the other species, and the black has that soft bluish lustre peculiar to the species. The relationships generally between the two species are very close, but the bill, as stated, is slenderer and more sulcate in _tricolor_, the tail much more nearly even; the first primary longer, usually nearly equal to or longer than the fourth, instead of the fifth.

Two strong features of coloration distinguish the female and immature stages of this species from _gubernator_ and _phœniceus_. They are, first, the soft bluish gloss of the males, both adult and immature; and secondly, the clear white and broad, not brown and narrow, borders to the middle wing-coverts.

HABITS. The Red and White shouldered Blackbird was seen by Mr. Ridgway among the _tulé_ in the neighborhood of Sacramento City, where it was very abundant, associating with the _A. phœniceus_ and _gubernator_, and the Yellow-headed Blackbird. The conspicuous white stripe on the wings of this bird renders it easily recognizable from the other species, where they are all seen together. Mr. Ridgway is of the opinion that the notes of the white-shouldered species differ very considerably from those of the two other Blackbirds.

Dr. Heermann found this a very abundant bird in California. He states that during the winter of 1852, when hunting in the marshes of Suisan Valley, he had often, on hearing a dull, rushing, roaring noise, found that it was produced by a single flock of this species, numbering so many thousands as to darken the sky for some distance by their masses. In the northern part of California he met with a breeding-place of this species that occupied several acres, covered with alder-bushes and willow, and was in the immediate vicinity of water. The nests, often four or five in the same bush, were composed of mud and straw, and lined with fine grasses. The eggs he describes as dark blue, marked with lines and spots of dark umber and a few light purple dashes. Dr. Heermann, at different times, fell in with several other breeding-places of this species, similarly situated, but they had all been abandoned, from which he inferred that each year different grounds are resorted to by these birds for the purposes of incubation.

Dr. Kennerly obtained a specimen of this bird on the Colorado River, in California, December, 1854. Dr. Cooper is of the opinion that it is, nevertheless, a rare species in that valley. The latter found them the most abundant species near San Diego and Los Angeles, and not rare at Santa Barbara. North of the last place they pass more into the interior, and extend up as far as Klamath Lake and Southern Oregon.

They are to be seen in considerable flocks even in the breeding-season. Their song, Dr. Cooper states, is not so loud and is more guttural than are those of the other species. Their habits are otherwise very similar, and they associate, in fall and winter, in immense flocks in the interior, though often also found separate.

These birds were first obtained by Mr. Nuttall near Santa Barbara, in the month of April. They were very common there, as well as at Monterey. He observed no difference in their habits from those of the common Redwing, except that they occurred in much larger flocks and kept apart from that species. They were seldom seen, except in the near suburbs of the towns. At that time California was in the possession of Mexico, and its inhabitants were largely occupied in the slaughter of wild cattle for the sake of the hides. Mr. Nuttall found these birds feeding almost exclusively on the maggots of the flesh-flies generated in the offal thus created. They were in large whirling flocks, and associated with the _Molothri_, the Grakles, the Redwings, and the Yellow-headed Blackbirds. They kept up an incessant chatter and a discordant, confused warble, much more harsh and guttural than even the notes of the Cow Blackbird.

Two eggs of this species, obtained by Dr. Heermann in California, and now in my cabinet, measuring an inch in length by .67 of an inch in breadth, are more oblong in shape than the preceding, but nearly equally obtuse at either end. They are similar in ground-color to the _phœniceus_, but are of a slightly deeper shade of blue, and are marked around one end with a ring of dark slaty-brown, almost black, lines, and irregular oblong blotches.

GENUS XANTHOCEPHALUS, BONAP.

_Xanthocephalus_, BONAP. Conspectus, 1850, 431. (Type, _Icterus
icterocephalus_, BONAP.)

[Line drawing: _Xanthocephalus icterocephalus._
3912]

GEN. CHAR. Bill conical, the length about twice the height; the outlines nearly straight. Claws all very long; much curved; the inner lateral the longest, reaching beyond the middle of the middle claw. Tail narrow, nearly even, the outer web scarcely widening to the end. Wings long, much longer than the tail; the first quill longest.

This genus differs from typical _Agelaius_ in much longer and more curved claws, even tail, and first quill longest, instead of the longest being the second, third, or fourth. The yellow head and black body are also strong marks.

Xanthocephalus icterocephalus, BAIRD.

YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

_Icterus icterocephalus_, BONAP. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 27, pl.
iii.—NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 176.—IB., (2d ed.,) 187 (not
_Oriolus icterocephalus_, LINN.). _Agelaius icterocephalus_,
CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1851, 188. _Icterus_ (_Xanthornus_)
_xanthocephalus_, BONAP. J. A. N. Sc. V, II, Feb. 1826,
222.—IB. Syn. 1828, 52. _Icterus xanthocephalus_, AUD. Orn.
Biog. V, 1839, 6, pl. ccclxxxviii. _Agelaius xanthocephalus_,
SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 281.—BON. List, 1838.—AUD.
Syn. 1839, 140.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 24, pl.
ccxiii.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. and Or. Route; Rep. P. R. R.
Surv. VI, IV, 1857, 86.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 361.—HEERM. X,
S, 52 (nest). _Agelaius longipes_, SWAINSON, Phil. Mag. I,
1827, 436. _Psarocolius perspicillatus_, “LICHT.” WAGLER, Isis,
1829. VII, 753. _Icterus perspicillatus_, “LICHT. in Mus.”
WAGLER, as above. _Xanthocephalus perspicillatus_, BONAP.
Consp. 1850, 431. _Icterus frenatus_, LICHT. Isis, 1843,
59.—REINHARDT, in Kroyer’s Tidskrift, IV.—IB. Vidensk.
Meddel. for 1853, 1854, 82 (Greenland). _Xanthocephalus
icterocephalus_, BAIRD, M. B. II, Birds, 18; Birds N. Am. 1858,
531.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 267.

SP. CHAR. First quill nearly as long as the second and third (longest), decidedly longer than the fourth. Tail rounded, or slightly graduated. General color black, including the inner surface of wings and axillaries, base of lower mandible all round, feathers adjacent to nostrils, lores, upper eyelids, and remaining space around the eye. The head and neck all round; the forepart of the breast, extending some distance down on the median line, and a somewhat hidden space round the anus, yellow. A conspicuous white patch at the base of the wing formed by the spurious feathers, interrupted by the black alula.

_Female_ smaller, browner; the yellow confined to the under parts and sides of the head, and a superciliary line. A dusky maxillary line. No white on the wing. Length of male, 10 inches; wing, 5.60; tail, 4.50.

HAB. Western America from Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and North Red River, to California, south into Mexico; Greenland (REINHARDT); Cuba (CABANIS, J. VII, 1859, 350); Massachusetts (MAYNARD, D. C. Mass. 1870, 122); Volusia, Florida (Mus. S. I.); Cape St. Lucas.

The color of the yellow in this species varies considerably; sometimes being almost of a lemon-yellow, sometimes of a rich orange. There is an occasional trace of yellow around the base of the tarsus. Immature males show every gradation between the colors of the adult male and female.

A very young bird (4,332, Dane Co., Wis.) is dusky above, with feathers of the dorsal region broadly tipped with ochraceous, lesser and middle wing-coverts white tinged with fulvous, dusky below the surface, greater coverts very broadly tipped with fulvous-white; primary coverts narrowly tipped with the same. Whole lower parts unvariegated fulvous-white; head all round plain ochraceous, deepest above.

HABITS. The Yellow-headed Blackbird is essentially a prairie bird, and is found in all favorable localities from Texas on the south to Illinois and Wisconsin, and thence to the Pacific. A single specimen is recorded as having been taken in Greenland. This was September 2, 1820, at Nenortalik. Recently the Smithsonian Museum has received a specimen from New Smyrna, in Florida. In October, 1869, a specimen of this bird was taken in Watertown, Mass., and Mr. Cassin mentions the capture of several near Philadelphia. These erratic appearances in places so remote from their centres of reproduction, and from their route in emigration, sufficiently attest the nomadic character of this species.