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.