The Bird Book Part 68

Range.--Pacific coast from California to British Columbia.

[Ill.u.s.tration 318: Red-winged Blackbird.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bluish white.]

[Ill.u.s.tration left hand margin.]

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499. Bicolored Red-wing. _Agelaius gubernator californicus._

Range.--Pacific coast, west of the Sierra Nevadas, from Washington south to Lower California.

The males of this species are distinguished from those of the Red-wings by the absence of light margins to the orange red shoulders. They are fairly abundant in their restricted localities, building their nests in swamps about ponds and streams. The nests are like those of the Red-wings, and the eggs are similar and with the same great variations in markings, but average a trifle smaller; size .95 .67.

500. TRICOLORED RED-WING. _Agelaius tricolor._

Range.--Pacific coast of California and Oregon; rare east of the Sierra Nevadas.

This species differs from the Red-wing in having the shoulders a much darker red and the median coverts white instead of buffy. Like the last species they have a limited range and are nowhere as common as are the Red-wings in the east. Their nests are like those of the Red-wings and the eggs are not distinguishable in their many variations, but they appear to be more often lined than those of the former.

501. MEADOWLARK. _Sturnella magna magna._

Range.--North America east of the Plains and north to Nova Scotia and Manitoba; winters from New England southward.

This handsome dweller among our fields and meadows is frequently heard giving his high, pleasing, flute-like whistle with its variations; his beautiful yellow breast with its black crescent is not so frequently seen in life, for they are usually quite shy birds. They artfully conceal their nests on the ground among the tall gra.s.s of meadows, arching them over with dead gra.s.s. During May or June they lay from four to six white eggs, speckled over the whole surface with reddish brown and purplish; size 1.10 .80.

501a. Rio Grande Meadowlark. _Sturnella magna hoopesi._

Range.--A brighter and slightly smaller variety found along the Mexican border.

[Ill.u.s.tration 319: Dull bluish white.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Meadowlark.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dull bluish white.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: White.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 500--501.1.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]

Page 318

[Ill.u.s.tration 320: R. H. B. Beebe.

NEST AND EGGS OF MEADOWLARK.]

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501.1. WESTERN MEADOWLARK. _Sturnella neglecta._

Range.--North America west of the Mississippi and from Manitoba and British Columbia southward, its range overlapping that of the eastern Meadowlark in the Mississippi Valley, but the two varieties appear not to intermingle. This variety is paler than the eastern, but the greatest point of difference is in the songs, they being wholly unlike, and that of the western bird much louder, sweeter and more varied than the simple whistle of the eastern form. The nesting habits of both varieties are the same and the eggs indistinguishable.

501c. SOUTHERN MEADOWLARK. _Sturnella magna argutula._

Range.--Florida and the Gulf coast.

A very similar bird to the northern form but slightly smaller and darker. There is no difference between the eggs of the two varieties.

503. AUDUBON'S ORIOLE. _Icterus melanocephalus auduboni._

Range.--Mexico and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

This large Oriole has a wholly black head, neck, fore breast, tail and wings; it is 9.5 inches in length. They are quite abundant and resident in southern Texas where they build at low elevations in trees, preferably mesquites, making the nests of woven gra.s.ses and hanging them from the small twigs of the trees; the nests are more like those of the Orchard Oriole and not long and pensile like those of the Baltimore. The three to five eggs are grayish white, blotched, clouded, spotted or streaked with brownish and purple. Size 1.00 x .70. Data.--Brownsville, Texas, April 6, 1897. 5 eggs. Nest of threads from palmetto leaves, hanging from limb of mesquite, 10 feet above ground in the open woods.

Collector, Frank B. Armstrong.

[Ill.u.s.tration 321: Audubon Oriole.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: White.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: deco-photo.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]

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504. SCOTT'S ORIOLE. _Icterus parisorum._

Range.--Western Mexico north to the adjoining states; north to Nevada.

This handsome black and yellow species does not appear to be abundant in any part of its range. Their nests are swung from the under side of leaves of the yucca palm or from small branches of low trees, and are made of gra.s.s and fibres. The eggs are bluish white, specked and blotched chiefly about the large end with blackish brown and lilac gray.

Size .95 X .65. Data.--Chiricahua Mts., Arizona, June 5, 1900. Nest placed on the under side of a yucca palm leaf, being hung from the spines, about 4 feet from the ground. Alt.i.tude 7000 feet. Collector, O.

W. Howard.

505. SENNETT'S ORIOLE. _Icterus cucullatus sennetti._

Range.--Mexico, north in summer to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

This species is orange yellow except for the face, throat, fore back, wings and tail, which are black; the wings are crossed by two white bars. These handsome birds are the most abundant of the Orioles on the Lower Rio Grande, where their pure mellow whistle is heard at frequent intervals throughout the day. They generally build their nests in hanging moss from mesquite trees, turning up at the ends and lining the pocket with moss, or else make a shallow hanging nest of fibres and suspend it from yuccas. During May or June they lay from three to five eggs of a white color, spotted (rarely lined) with purplish brown and gray. Size .85 .60.

505a. ARIZONA HOODED ORIOLE. _Icterus cucullatus nelsoni._

Range.--Western Mexico; in summer north to southern Arizona, New Mexico and California.

This variety is like the last but more yellowish. Their nests are made of a wiry gra.s.s compactly woven together and partially suspended to mistletoe twigs growing from cottonwood trees; nests of this type are perfectly distinct from those of the preceding, but when they are made of fibre and attached to yuccas, they cannot be distinguished from nests of the former variety. Their eggs are similar to those of the Hooded Oriole, but generally more strongly marked and usually with some zigzag lines. Size .85 .60.

[Ill.u.s.tration 322: Bluish white.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hooded Oriole.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: White.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: deco.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: left hand margin.]