--Gabrielson and Jewett in
collecting material for their book on the birds of Oregon found many old records of Tricolored
Blackbirds (Agelaius tricolor) in Oregon. These records were all unsupported by specimens. Both
authors spent some time in Jackson County, Oregon, but failed to find the species. Johnson Neff and
I saw a few at different times in Klamath County and found a nesting colony on the Copco Ranch
near Agency Lake in 1933. We collected nine males (Condor, 35, 1933:234-235). At that time these
were the only specimens for Oregon.
Sometime in3he summer of 1956 I saw 15 or 20 Tricolored Blackbirds on a lawn near the Cottage
Street bridge in Medford, Jackson County, Oregon. In May of 1957 several hundred of these black-
birds were feeding in a field of vetch about 3 miles east of Medford. On June 2, 1958, Thomas Mc-
Camant discovered a nesting colony of Tricolored Blackbirds numbering about 1500 on Bear Creek,
just east of Central Point in Jackson County (Audubon Field Notes, 12, 1958:379). These nests were
in blackberry vines. I visited this colony on June 21 and found all nests with young birds. In 1959 we
were unable to find the nesting colony.
On May 30, 1960, while making a bird count with a group of Medford bird watchers I found
a large colony of Tricolored Blackbirds nesting in the cattails in a pond near the Rogue River in the
Camp White area. We estimated there were at least 1800 birds present. I returned on June 2 and
collected three males and three females, and also three nests with three eggs each. The specimens are
now in the Carl Richardson collection of Southern Oregon College and the Alex Walker collection
at Tillamook, Oregon.--CAgL RICHARDSON, Trail, Oregon, May 25, 1961.