RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

(Agelaius Phamiceus) Blackbird family

Called also. SWAMP BLACKBIRD; RED-WINGED ORIOLE; RED-WINGED

STARLING

Length — Exceptionally variable—7.50 to 9.80 inches. Usually

about an inch smaller than the robin.

Male — Coal-black. Shoulders scarlet, edged with yellow.

Female — Feathers finely and inconspicuously speckled with

brown, rusty black, whitish, and orange. Upper wing-coverts

black, tipped with white, or rufous and sometimes spotted with

black and red.

Range — North America. Breeds from Texas to Columbia River, and

throughout the United States. Commonly found from Mexico to

57th degree north latitude.

Migrations — March. October. Common summer resident.

In oozy pastures where a brook lazily finds its way through the farm is the ideal pleasure ground of this "bird of society." His notes, "h'-wa-ker-ee" or "con-quer-ee" (on an ascending scale), are liquid in quality, suggesting the sweet, moist, cool retreats where he nests. Liking either heat or cold (he is fond of wintering in Florida, but often retreats to the north while the marshes are still frozen); enjoying not only the company of large flocks of his own kind with whom he travels, but any bird associates with whom he can scrape acquaintance; or to sit quietly on a tree-top in the secluded, inaccessible bog while his mate is nesting; satisfied with cut-worms, grubs, and insects, or with fruit and grain for his food — the blackbird is an impressive and helpful example of how to get the best out of life.

Yet, of all the birds, some farmers complain that the blackbird is the greatest nuisance. They dislike the noisy chatterings when a flock is simply indulging its social instincts. They complain, too, that the blackbirds eat their corn, forgetting that having devoured innumerable grubs from it during the summer, the birds feel justly entitled to a share of the profits. Though occasionally guilty of eating the farmer's corn and oats and rice, yet it has been found that nearly seven-eighths of the redwing's food is made up of weed-seeds or of insects injurious to agriculture. This bird builds its nest in low bushes on the margin of ponds or low in the bog grass of marshes. From three to five pale-blue eggs, curiously streaked, spotted, and scrawled with black or purple, constitute a brood. Nursery duties are soon finished, for in July the young birds are ready to gather in flocks with their elders.