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. I, 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.