The Rusty Blackbird in Kern County, California
The Rusty Blackbird in Kern County, California
On December 16, 1937, while I was engaged in field work in the South Fork Valley of the Kern River, Kern County, California, Mrs. Stanley Smith, the wife of a rancher in the valley, called my attention to a “peculiar looking blackbird” which she had taken away from her cat. Being familiar only with our western blackbirds, I was unable to recognize this specimen. Therefore, upon returning to Los Angeles, I took the skin (now no. 1020, Stager collection) to the Los Angeles Museum, where Mr. George Willett identified it as Euphagus carolinus.
Credit is due Mrs. Smith, whose knowledge of bird life enabled her to recognize the specimen as of an unusual bird. According to Mrs. Smith, the cat caught two individuals of this species, but the second bird was too badly mauled to be worth saving. From all available literature, carolinus is a rare winter visitor in southern California. Three other records are known, two of which are from the Santa Barbara Islands and the third from Jamacha, San Diego County (Willett, Pac. Coast Avif. No. 21,1933,p. 155).
Kenneth E. Stager
Los Angeles, California, March 4, 1938
