Chapter 21

Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 55.Agelaius tricolor.♂shoulder.Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 66.Agelaius tricolor.♂Cal., 2836.Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 77.Agelaius tricolor.♀Cal., 5532.Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 88.Agelaius gubernator.♀Cal., 5530.Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 99.Xanthocephalus icterocephalus.♀Kansas, 6557.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, BirdsE. 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, ArcticZoöl. 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 andyellowish; 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, IbisI, 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 inA. 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 toA. 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.The male ofA. assimilisof Cuba cannot be distinguished from small-sized males ofphœniceusfrom the United States, the females, however, as in nearly all West IndianIcteridæ, are uniform though rather dull black. This we consider as simply a local variation of melanism, not indicating a specific difference. A young male is similar, but with the lesser coverts red, tipped with black. On the other extreme, streaked female and young birds from Lower California, Arizona, and Western Mexico are much lighter than in eastern birds, the chin, throat, jugulum, and superciliary stripe tinged with a peculiar peach-blossom pink; not buff, sometimes tinged with orange.Habits.The much abused and persecuted Redwinged Blackbird is found throughout North America as far north as the 57th parallel, from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and it breeds more or less abundantly wherever found, from Florida and Texas to the plains of the Saskatchewan. According to the observations of Mr. Salvin, it is resident all the year in Guatemala. It breeds among the reeds at the lake of Dueñas, deferring its incubation until the month of June. The females congregate in large flocks near the lake, feeding about the swampy grass on the edge of the water, the males keeping separate. At Orizaba, Mexico, Sumichrast regarded this species as only a bird of passage.On the Pacific coast, it is only found, in any numbers, in Washington Territory and in Oregon, about cultivated tracts. Dr. Cooper thinks that none inhabit the bare and mountainous prairie regions east of the Cascade Mountains. Small flocks wintered at Vancouver about stables and haystacks.Dr. Suckley speaks of them as quite common west of the Cascade Mountains, arriving from the South in March. In all the marshy places of the entire West Mr. Ridgway met with this species and their nests in great abundance. In all respects he found the western birds identical with the eastern. Their nests were in low bushes in overflowed meadows.Donald Gunn found this species common in the Red River Settlements; and Richardson met with them on the Saskatchewan, where they arrive in May, but do not breed until the 20th of June.In New England this Blackbird is generally migratory, though instances are on record where a few have been known to remain throughout the winter in Massachusetts. They are among the earliest to arrive in spring, coming, in company with the Rusty Grakle, as early as the 10th of March. Those which remain to breed usually come a month later. They breed throughout New England, as also in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.It is equally abundant and resident in Arizona and Texas, and in the adjoining portions of Mexico. On the Rio Grande, Mr. Dresser found it very abundant, breeding on the banks of the rivers and streams. In the winter season these birds are found in immense flocks in the lower parts of Virginia, both the Carolinas, and all the Gulf States, particularly near the sea-coast and among old fields of rice and grain. Wilson states that once, passing, in January, through the lower counties of Virginia, he frequently witnessed the aerial evolutions of great bodies of these birds. Sometimes they appeared as if driven about like an enormous black cloud carried before the wind, varying every moment in shape. Sometimes they rose up suddenly from the fields with a noise like thunder, while the glittering of innumerable wings of the brightest vermilion, amid the black cloud, occasioned a very striking effect. At times the whole congregated multitude would suddenly alight in some detached grove and commence one general concert, that he could plainly distinguish at the distance of more than two miles, and when listened to at a distance of a quarter of a mile, the flow of its cadences was grand, and even sublime.He adds that with the Redwings the whole winter season seems one continued carnival. They find abundant food in the old fields of rice, buckwheat, and grain, and much of their time is spent in aerial movements, or in grand vocal performances.Early in March these large assemblies break up. A part separate in pairs and remain among the Southern swamps. The greater portion, in smaller flocks, the male bird leading the way, commence their movements northward. Late in April they have all re-established themselves in their chosen haunts, have mated, and are preparing to make their nests. In Pennsylvania this is done in May, in New England early in June, and farther north a fortnight later. For their nest they invariably select either the borders of streams or low marshy situations. These they usually place in low bushes, such as grow in moist situations, among thick bunches of reeds,or even on the ground. In one instance, in an island on the marshes of Essex River, Mr. Maynard found these nests placed in trees twenty feet from the ground. One nest was built on a slender sapling at the distance of fourteen feet from the ground. The nest was pensile, like that of the Baltimore Oriole. It was woven of bleached eel-grass.When built in a bush, the outer, basket-like frame of the nest is carefully and strongly interwoven with, or fastened around, the adjacent twigs, and, though somewhat rudely put together, is woven firmly and compactly. Within this is packed a mass of coarse materials, with an inner nest of sedges and grasses. The outer framework is usually made of rushes and strong leaves of the iris. The male bird is a very attentive and watchful parent, constantly on the lookout for the approach of danger, and prompt to do all in his power to avert it, approaching close to the intruder, and earnestly remonstrating against the aggression. If the nest is pillaged, for several days he evinces great distress, and makes frequent lamentations, but soon prepares to remedy the disaster. So tenacious are they of a selected locality, that I have known the same pair to build three nests within as many weeks in the same bush, after having been robbed twice. The third time the pair succeeded in raising their brood.In New England these birds have but one brood in a season. Farther south they are said to have three or more. In August they begin to collect in small flocks largely composed of young birds. The latter do not reach their full plumage until their third summer, but breed in their immature plumage the summer following their appearance. When the Indian corn is in the milk, these birds are said to collect in numbers, and to commit great depredations upon it. As soon, however, as the corn hardens, they desist from these attacks, and seek other food. In the grain-growing States they gather in immense swarms and commit great havoc, and although they are shot in immense numbers, and though their ranks are thinned by the attacks of hawks, it seems to have but little effect upon the survivors. These scenes of pillage are, for the most part, confined to the low sections, near the sea-coast, and only last during a short period, when the corn is in a condition to be eaten.On the other hand, these Blackbirds more than compensate the farmer for these brief episodes of mischief, by the immense benefits they confer in the destruction of grub-worms, caterpillars, and various kinds of larvæ, the secret and deadly enemies of vegetation. During the months of March, April, May, June, and July, their food is almost wholly insects, and during that period the amount of their insect food, all of it of the most noxious kinds, is perfectly enormous. These they both consume themselves and feed to their young. Wilson estimated the number of insects destroyed by these birds in a single season, in the United States, at twelve thousand millions.The notes of this bird are very various and indescribable. The mostcommon one sounds likecon-cur-ee. But there is also an almost endless mingling of guttural, creaking, or clear utterances that defy description.Their eggs vary greatly in size; the largest measures 1.08 inches by .82 of an inch, the smallest .90 by .65. They average about an inch in length and .77 of an inch in breadth. They are oval in shape, have a light-bluish ground, and are marbled, lined, and blotched with markings of light and dark purple and black. These markings are almost wholly about the larger end, and are very varying.Agelaius phœniceus,var.gubernator,Bon.CRIMSON-SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD.Psarocolius gubernator,Wagler, Isis, 1832,IV, 281.Agelaius gubernator,Bon.List, 1838.—Ib.Conspectus, 1850, 430.—Aud.Syn.1839, 141.—Ib.Birds Am. IV, 1842, 29,pl. ccxv.—Newberry,P. R. R. Rep. VI,IV, 1857, 86.—Baird,Birds N. Am.1858, 529.—Heerm.X, S, 53 (nest).—Cooper,Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 263.Icterus(Zanthornus)gubernator,Nuttall,Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 187.Sp. Char.Bill rather shorter than the head, without any longitudinal sulci, but with faint traces of transverse ones at the base of the lower jaw. Tail rounded. First quill nearly equal to the fourth.Male.Throughout of a lustrous velvety-black, with a greenish reflection. The lesser coverts rich crimson; the middle coverts brownish-yellow at the base, but the exposed portion black. Wing, 5.00; tail, 3.90; culmen, .90; tarsus, 1.10.Female.Nearly uniform dark slaty-brown; an indistinct superciliary stripe, an indication of a maxillary stripe, and blended streaks on chin and throat delicate pale peach-blossom pink, this on the jugulum interrupted by dusky streaks running in longitudinal series; lesser wing-coverts tinged with dark wine-red. Wings with just appreciable paler edges to the feathers. Wing, 4.20; tail, 3.20.Hab.Pacific Province of United States, and Western Mexico, to Colima; Western Nevada (Ridgway). ? Xalapa (Sclater, 1859, 365).In the female and all the immature stages, the dusky beneath is largely in excess of the light streaks; the superciliary light stripe is badly defined, and there is no trace of a median light stripe on the crown. These characters distinguish this race fromphœniceus; while the rounded instead of square tail, and brown instead of pure white border to middle wing-coverts, distinguish it from corresponding stages oftricolor.Habits.The Crimson-shouldered Blackbird was first met with by Mr. Townsend, on the Columbia River, where two specimens were obtained, which were described by Mr. Audubon, in his Synopsis, in 1839. No information in regard to its habits, distribution, or nesting, was obtained by either Mr. Townsend or by his companion, Mr. Nuttall.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 commonphœniceus. 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 withMolothrus pecorisandA. 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 thetricolor, 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 thetricolorwas detected by Dr. Coues in Arizona.These Blackbirds were found by Mr. Ridgway abundant in the marshy regions of California, but they were rarely met with east of the Sierra Nevada. A few individuals were collected in Nevada in the valley of the Truckee. A few pairs were found breeding among thetulésloughs and marshes. The nests found in the Truckee Reservations were built in low bushes in wet meadows.A nest procured by Dr. Cooper from the summit of the Coast Range was built of grass and rushes, and lined with finer grass. The eggs are describedas pale greenish-white, with large curving streaks and spots of dark brown, mostly at the large end. They are said to measure one inch by .75 of an inch.Eggs of this variety in my cabinet, taken in California by Dr. Heermann, are of a rounded-oval shape, nearly equally obtuse at either end, and varying in length from .90 of an inch to an inch, and in breadth from .70 to .80. Their ground-color is a light blue, fading into a bluish-white, marked only around the larger end with waving lines of dark brown, much lighter in shade than the markings of thephœniceususually are.Agelaius tricolor,Bonap.RED AND WHITE SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD.Icterus tricolor, “Nuttall,”Aud.Orn. Biog. V, 1839,I, pl. ccclxxxviii.—Nuttall,Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 186.Agelaius tricolor,Bon.List, 1838.—Aud.Syn.1839, 141.—Ib.Birds Am. IV, 1842, 27,pl. ccxiv.—Heerm.X, S, 53 (nest).—Baird,Birds N. Am.1858, 530.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 1870, 265.Sp. Char.Tail nearly even. Second and third quills longest; first a little shorter than the fourth. Bill slender, not half as high as long.Male.General color uniform lustrous velvet-black, with a strong silky-bluish reflection. Shoulders and lesser wing-coverts brownish-red, of much the color of venous blood; the median coverts of a well-defined and nearly pure white, with sometimes a brownish tinge. Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.70; culmen, .97; tarsus, 1.13.Female.General color dusky slaty-brown, faintly variegated on head also by lighter streaks; middle wing-coverts broadly and sharply bordered with pure white. An obsolete superciliary and maxillary stripe of grayish-white. Beneath grayish-white for anterior half, with narrow streaks of dusky, this color gradually prevailing posteriorly, the sides, flanks, and crissum being nearly uniform dusky. Wing, 4.25; tail, 3.20.Hab.Pacific Province of United States, from Columbia River southward, not yet found out of California and Oregon.Immature males sometimes have the white on the wing tinged with brownish-yellow, as inA. phœniceus. The red, however, has the usual brownish-orange shade so much darker and duller than the brilliantly scarlet shoulders of the other species, and the black has that soft bluish lustre peculiar to the species. The relationships generally between the two species are very close, but the bill, as stated, is slenderer and more sulcate intricolor, the tail much more nearly even; the first primary longer, usually nearly equal to or longer than the fourth, instead of the fifth.Two strong features of coloration distinguish the female and immature stages of this species fromgubernatorandphœniceus. They are, first, the soft bluish gloss of the males, both adult and immature; and secondly, the clear white and broad, not brown and narrow, borders to the middle wing-coverts.Habits.The Red and White shouldered Blackbird was seen by Mr. Ridgway among thetuléin the neighborhood of Sacramento City, where it was very abundant, associating with theA. phœniceusandgubernator, and the Yellow-headed Blackbird. The conspicuous white stripe on the wingsof this bird renders it easily recognizable from the other species, where they are all seen together. Mr. Ridgway is of the opinion that the notes of the white-shouldered species differ very considerably from those of the two other Blackbirds.Dr. Heermann found this a very abundant bird in California. He states that during the winter of 1852, when hunting in the marshes of Suisan Valley, he had often, on hearing a dull, rushing, roaring noise, found that it was produced by a single flock of this species, numbering so many thousands as to darken the sky for some distance by their masses. In the northern part of California he met with a breeding-place of this species that occupied several acres, covered with alder-bushes and willow, and was in the immediate vicinity of water. The nests, often four or five in the same bush, were composed of mud and straw, and lined with fine grasses. The eggs he describes as dark blue, marked with lines and spots of dark umber and a few light purple dashes. Dr. Heermann, at different times, fell in with several other breeding-places of this species, similarly situated, but they had all been abandoned, from which he inferred that each year different grounds are resorted to by these birds for the purposes of incubation.Dr. Kennerly obtained a specimen of this bird on the Colorado River, in California, December, 1854. Dr. Cooper is of the opinion that it is, nevertheless, a rare species in that valley. The latter found them the most abundant species near San Diego and Los Angeles, and not rare at Santa Barbara. North of the last place they pass more into the interior, and extend up as far as Klamath Lake and Southern Oregon.They are to be seen in considerable flocks even in the breeding-season. Their song, Dr. Cooper states, is not so loud and is more guttural than are those of the other species. Their habits are otherwise very similar, and they associate, in fall and winter, in immense flocks in the interior, though often also found separate.These birds were first obtained by Mr. Nuttall near Santa Barbara, in the month of April. They were very common there, as well as at Monterey. He observed no difference in their habits from those of the common Redwing, except that they occurred in much larger flocks and kept apart from that species. They were seldom seen, except in the near suburbs of the towns. At that time California was in the possession of Mexico, and its inhabitants were largely occupied in the slaughter of wild cattle for the sake of the hides. Mr. Nuttall found these birds feeding almost exclusively on the maggots of the flesh-flies generated in the offal thus created. They were in large whirling flocks, and associated with theMolothri, the Grakles, the Redwings, and the Yellow-headed Blackbirds. They kept up an incessant chatter and a discordant, confused warble, much more harsh and guttural than even the notes of the Cow Blackbird.Two eggs of this species, obtained by Dr. Heermann in California, and now in my cabinet, measuring an inch in length by .67 of an inch in breadth,are more oblong in shape than the preceding, but nearly equally obtuse at either end. They are similar in ground-color to thephœniceus, but are of a slightly deeper shade of blue, and are marked around one end with a ring of dark slaty-brown, almost black, lines, and irregular oblong blotches.GenusXANTHOCEPHALUS,Bonap.Xanthocephalus,Bonap.Conspectus, 1850, 431. (Type,Icterus icterocephalus,Bonap.)Illustration: Xanthocephalus icterocephalusXanthocephalus icterocephalus.3912Gen. Char.Bill conical, the length about twice the height; the outlines nearly straight. Claws all very long; much curved; the inner lateral the longest, reaching beyond the middle of the middle claw. Tail narrow, nearly even, the outer web scarcely widening to the end. Wings long, much longer than the tail; the first quill longest.This genus differs from typicalAgelaiusin much longer and more curved claws, even tail, and first quill longest, instead of the longest being the second, third, or fourth. The yellow head and black body are also strong marks.Xanthocephalus icterocephalus,Baird.YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.Icterus icterocephalus,Bonap.Am. Orn. I, 1825, 27,pl. iii.—Nutt.Man. I, 1832, 176.—Ib., (2d ed.,) 187 (notOriolus icterocephalus,Linn.).Agelaius icterocephalus,Cabanis,Mus. Hein.1851, 188.Icterus(Xanthornus)xanthocephalus,Bonap.J. A. N. Sc. V,II, Feb.1826, 222.—Ib.Syn.1828, 52.Icterus xanthocephalus,Aud.Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 6,pl. ccclxxxviii.Agelaius xanthocephalus,Swainson,F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 281.—Bon.List, 1838.—Aud.Syn.1839, 140.—Ib.Birds Am. IV, 1842, 24,pl. ccxiii.—Newberry,Zoöl. Cal. and Or. Route; Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI,IV, 1857, 86.—Max.Cab. J. VI, 1858, 361.—Heerm.X, S, 52 (nest).Agelaius longipes,Swainson,Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 436.Psarocolius perspicillatus, “Licht.”Wagler, Isis, 1829.VII, 753.Icterus perspicillatus, “Licht.in Mus.”Wagler, as above.Xanthocephalus perspicillatus,Bonap.Consp.1850, 431.Icterus frenatus,Licht.Isis, 1843, 59.—Reinhardt, in Kroyer’s Tidskrift,IV.—Ib.Vidensk. Meddel.for 1853, 1854, 82 (Greenland).Xanthocephalus icterocephalus,Baird,M. B. II, Birds, 18;Birds N. Am.1858, 531.—Cooper,Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 267.Sp. Char.First quill nearly as long as the second and third (longest), decidedly longer than the fourth. Tail rounded, or slightly graduated. General color black, including the inner surface of wings and axillaries, base of lower mandible all round, feathers adjacent to nostrils, lores, upper eyelids, and remaining space around the eye. The head and neck all round; the forepart of the breast, extending some distance down on the median line, and a somewhat hidden space round the anus, yellow. A conspicuous white patch at the base of the wing formed by the spurious feathers, interrupted by the black alula.Illustration: Xanthocephalus icterocephalusXanthocephalus icterocephalus.Femalesmaller, browner; the yellow confined to the under parts and sides of the head, and a superciliary line. A dusky maxillary line. No white on the wing. Length of male, 10 inches; wing, 5.60; tail, 4.50.Hab.Western America from Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and North Red River, to California, south into Mexico; Greenland (Reinhardt); Cuba (Cabanis,J. VII, 1859, 350); Massachusetts (Maynard, D. C.Mass.1870, 122); Volusia, Florida (Mus. S. I.); CapeSt.Lucas.The color of the yellow in this species varies considerably; sometimes being almost of a lemon-yellow, sometimes of a rich orange. There is an occasional trace of yellow around the base of the tarsus. Immature males show every gradation between the colors of the adult male and female.A very young bird (4,332, DaneCo., Wis.) is dusky above, with feathers of the dorsal region broadly tipped with ochraceous, lesser and middle wing-coverts white tinged with fulvous, dusky below the surface, greater coverts very broadly tipped with fulvous-white; primary coverts narrowly tipped with the same. Whole lower parts unvariegated fulvous-white; head all round plain ochraceous, deepest above.Habits.The Yellow-headed Blackbird is essentially a prairie bird, and is found in all favorable localities from Texas on the south to Illinois and Wisconsin, and thence to the Pacific. A single specimen is recorded as having been taken in Greenland. This was September 2, 1820, at Nenortalik. Recently the Smithsonian Museum has received a specimen from New Smyrna, in Florida. In October, 1869, a specimen of this bird was taken in Watertown,Mass., and Mr. Cassin mentions the capture of several near Philadelphia. These erratic appearances in places so remote from their centres of reproduction, and from their route in emigration, sufficiently attest the nomadic character of this species.They are found in abundance in all the grassy meadows or rushy marshes of Illinois and Wisconsin, where they breed in large communities. In swamps overgrown with tall rushes, and partially overflowed, they construct their nests just above the water, and build them around the stems of these water-plants, where they are thickest, in such a manner that it is difficult todiscover them, except by diligent search, aided by familiarity with their habits.In Texas Mr. Dresser met with a few in the fall, and again in April he found the prairies covered with these birds. For about a week vast flocks remained about the town, after which they suddenly disappeared, and no more were seen.In California, Dr. Cooper states that they winter in large numbers in the middle districts, some wandering to the Colorado Valley and to San Diego. They nest around Santa Barbara, and thence northward, and are very abundant about Klamath Lake. They associate with the other Blackbirds, but always keep in separate companies. They are very gregarious, even in summer.Dr. Cooper states that the only song the male attempts consists of a few hoarse, chuckling notes and comical squeakings, uttered as if it was a great effort to make any sound at all.Dr. Coues speaks of it as less numerous in Arizona than at most other localities where found at all. He speaks of it as a summer resident, but in this I think he may have been mistaken.In Western Iowa Mr. Allen saw a few, during the first week in July, about the grassy ponds near Boonesboro’. He was told that they breed in great numbers, north and east of that section, in the meadows of the Skunk River country. He also reports them as breeding in large numbers in the Calumet marshes of Northern Illinois.Sir John Richardson found these birds very numerous in the interior of the fur countries, ranging in summer as far to the north as the 58th parallel, but not found to the eastward of Lake Winnipeg. They reached the Saskatchewan by the 20th of May, in greater numbers than the Redwings.Through California, as well as in the interior, Mr. Ridgway found the Yellow-headed Blackbird a very abundant species, even exceeding in numbers theA. phœniceus, occurring in the marshes filled with rushes. This species he found more gregarious than the Redwing, and frequently their nests almost filled the rushes of their breeding-places. Its notes he describes as harsher than those of any other bird he is acquainted with. Yet they are by no means disagreeable, while frequently their attempts at a song were really amusing. Their usual note is a deepcluck, similar to that of most Blackbirds, but of a rather deeper tone. In its movements upon the ground its gait is firm and graceful, and it may frequently be seen walking about over the grassy flats, in small companies, in a manner similar to the Cow Blackbird, which, in its movements, it greatly resembles. It nests in the sloughs, among thetulé, and the maximum number of its eggs is four.Mr. W. J. McLaughlin of Centralia, Kansas, writes (American Naturalist,III, p.493) that these birds arrive in that region about the first of May, and all disappear about the 10th of June. He does not think that any breed there. During their stay they make themselves very valuable to the farmersby destroying the swarms of young grasshoppers. On the writer’s land the grasshoppers had deposited their eggs by the million. As they began to hatch, the Yellow-heads found them out, and a flock of about two hundred attended about two acres each day, roving over the entire lot as wild pigeons feed, the rear ones flying to the front as the insects were devoured.Mr. Clark met with these birds at New Leon, Mexico. They were always in flocks, mingled with two or three of its congeneric species. They were found more abundant near the coast than in the interior. There was a roost of these birds on an island in a lagoon near Fort Brown. Between sunset and dark these birds could be seen coming from all quarters. For about an hour they kept up a constant chattering and changing of place. Another similar roost was on an island near the mouth of the Rio Grande.Dr. Kennerly found them very common near Janos and also near Santa Cruz, in Sonora. At the former place they were seen in the month of April in large flocks. He describes them as quite domestic in their habits, preferring the immediate vicinity of the houses, often feeding with the domestic fowls in the yards.Dr. Heermann states that these birds collect in flocks of many thousands with the species ofAgelaius, and on the approach of spring separate into smaller bands, resorting in May to large marshy districts in the valleys, where they incubate. Their nests he found attached to the upright stalks of the reeds, and woven around them, of flexible grasses, differing essentially from the nests of theAgelaiiin the lightness of their material. The eggs, always four in number, he describes as having a ground of pale ashy-green, thickly covered with minute dots of a light umber-brown.Mr. Nuttall states that on the2dof May, during his western tour, he saw these birds in great abundance, associated with the Cowbird. They kept wholly on the ground, in companies, the sexes separated by themselves. They were digging into the earth with their bills in search of insects and larvæ. They were very active, straddling about with a quaint gait, and now and then whistling out, with great effort, a chuckling note, sounding likeko-kuk kie-ait. Their music was inferior even to the harsh notes ofM. pecoris.Several nests of this species, procured in the marshes on the banks of Lake Koskonong, in Southern Wisconsin, were sent me by Mr. Kumlien; they were all light, neat, and elegant structures, six inches in diameter and four in height. The cavity had a diameter of three and a depth of two and a half inches. The base, periphery, and the greater portion of these nests were made of interwoven grasses and sedges. The grasses were entire, with their panicles on. They were impacted together in masses. The inner portions of these nests were made of finer materials of the same. They were placed in the midst of large, overflowed marshes, and were attached to tall flags, usually in the midst of clumps of the latter, and these were so close in their growth that the nests were not easily discovered. They contained,usually, from five to six eggs. These are of an oblong-oval shape, and measure 1.02 inches in length by .70 of an inch in breadth. Their ground-color is of a pale greenish-white, profusely covered with blotches and finer dottings of drab, purplish-brown, and umber.GenusSTURNELLA,Vieillot.Sturnella,Vieillot, Analyse, 1816. (Type,Alauda magna,L.)Illustration: Sturnella magnaSturnella magna.1303

Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 55.Agelaius tricolor.♂shoulder.

5.Agelaius tricolor.♂shoulder.

Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 66.Agelaius tricolor.♂Cal., 2836.

6.Agelaius tricolor.♂Cal., 2836.

Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 77.Agelaius tricolor.♀Cal., 5532.

7.Agelaius tricolor.♀Cal., 5532.

Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 88.Agelaius gubernator.♀Cal., 5530.

8.Agelaius gubernator.♀Cal., 5530.

Illustration: Color plate 33 detail 99.Xanthocephalus icterocephalus.♀Kansas, 6557.

9.Xanthocephalus icterocephalus.♀Kansas, 6557.

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, BirdsE. 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, ArcticZoöl. 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 andyellowish; 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, IbisI, 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 inA. 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 toA. 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.

The male ofA. assimilisof Cuba cannot be distinguished from small-sized males ofphœniceusfrom the United States, the females, however, as in nearly all West IndianIcteridæ, are uniform though rather dull black. This we consider as simply a local variation of melanism, not indicating a specific difference. A young male is similar, but with the lesser coverts red, tipped with black. On the other extreme, streaked female and young birds from Lower California, Arizona, and Western Mexico are much lighter than in eastern birds, the chin, throat, jugulum, and superciliary stripe tinged with a peculiar peach-blossom pink; not buff, sometimes tinged with orange.

Habits.The much abused and persecuted Redwinged Blackbird is found throughout North America as far north as the 57th parallel, from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and it breeds more or less abundantly wherever found, from Florida and Texas to the plains of the Saskatchewan. According to the observations of Mr. Salvin, it is resident all the year in Guatemala. It breeds among the reeds at the lake of Dueñas, deferring its incubation until the month of June. The females congregate in large flocks near the lake, feeding about the swampy grass on the edge of the water, the males keeping separate. At Orizaba, Mexico, Sumichrast regarded this species as only a bird of passage.

On the Pacific coast, it is only found, in any numbers, in Washington Territory and in Oregon, about cultivated tracts. Dr. Cooper thinks that none inhabit the bare and mountainous prairie regions east of the Cascade Mountains. Small flocks wintered at Vancouver about stables and haystacks.Dr. Suckley speaks of them as quite common west of the Cascade Mountains, arriving from the South in March. In all the marshy places of the entire West Mr. Ridgway met with this species and their nests in great abundance. In all respects he found the western birds identical with the eastern. Their nests were in low bushes in overflowed meadows.

Donald Gunn found this species common in the Red River Settlements; and Richardson met with them on the Saskatchewan, where they arrive in May, but do not breed until the 20th of June.

In New England this Blackbird is generally migratory, though instances are on record where a few have been known to remain throughout the winter in Massachusetts. They are among the earliest to arrive in spring, coming, in company with the Rusty Grakle, as early as the 10th of March. Those which remain to breed usually come a month later. They breed throughout New England, as also in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

It is equally abundant and resident in Arizona and Texas, and in the adjoining portions of Mexico. On the Rio Grande, Mr. Dresser found it very abundant, breeding on the banks of the rivers and streams. In the winter season these birds are found in immense flocks in the lower parts of Virginia, both the Carolinas, and all the Gulf States, particularly near the sea-coast and among old fields of rice and grain. Wilson states that once, passing, in January, through the lower counties of Virginia, he frequently witnessed the aerial evolutions of great bodies of these birds. Sometimes they appeared as if driven about like an enormous black cloud carried before the wind, varying every moment in shape. Sometimes they rose up suddenly from the fields with a noise like thunder, while the glittering of innumerable wings of the brightest vermilion, amid the black cloud, occasioned a very striking effect. At times the whole congregated multitude would suddenly alight in some detached grove and commence one general concert, that he could plainly distinguish at the distance of more than two miles, and when listened to at a distance of a quarter of a mile, the flow of its cadences was grand, and even sublime.

He adds that with the Redwings the whole winter season seems one continued carnival. They find abundant food in the old fields of rice, buckwheat, and grain, and much of their time is spent in aerial movements, or in grand vocal performances.

Early in March these large assemblies break up. A part separate in pairs and remain among the Southern swamps. The greater portion, in smaller flocks, the male bird leading the way, commence their movements northward. Late in April they have all re-established themselves in their chosen haunts, have mated, and are preparing to make their nests. In Pennsylvania this is done in May, in New England early in June, and farther north a fortnight later. For their nest they invariably select either the borders of streams or low marshy situations. These they usually place in low bushes, such as grow in moist situations, among thick bunches of reeds,or even on the ground. In one instance, in an island on the marshes of Essex River, Mr. Maynard found these nests placed in trees twenty feet from the ground. One nest was built on a slender sapling at the distance of fourteen feet from the ground. The nest was pensile, like that of the Baltimore Oriole. It was woven of bleached eel-grass.

When built in a bush, the outer, basket-like frame of the nest is carefully and strongly interwoven with, or fastened around, the adjacent twigs, and, though somewhat rudely put together, is woven firmly and compactly. Within this is packed a mass of coarse materials, with an inner nest of sedges and grasses. The outer framework is usually made of rushes and strong leaves of the iris. The male bird is a very attentive and watchful parent, constantly on the lookout for the approach of danger, and prompt to do all in his power to avert it, approaching close to the intruder, and earnestly remonstrating against the aggression. If the nest is pillaged, for several days he evinces great distress, and makes frequent lamentations, but soon prepares to remedy the disaster. So tenacious are they of a selected locality, that I have known the same pair to build three nests within as many weeks in the same bush, after having been robbed twice. The third time the pair succeeded in raising their brood.

In New England these birds have but one brood in a season. Farther south they are said to have three or more. In August they begin to collect in small flocks largely composed of young birds. The latter do not reach their full plumage until their third summer, but breed in their immature plumage the summer following their appearance. When the Indian corn is in the milk, these birds are said to collect in numbers, and to commit great depredations upon it. As soon, however, as the corn hardens, they desist from these attacks, and seek other food. In the grain-growing States they gather in immense swarms and commit great havoc, and although they are shot in immense numbers, and though their ranks are thinned by the attacks of hawks, it seems to have but little effect upon the survivors. These scenes of pillage are, for the most part, confined to the low sections, near the sea-coast, and only last during a short period, when the corn is in a condition to be eaten.

On the other hand, these Blackbirds more than compensate the farmer for these brief episodes of mischief, by the immense benefits they confer in the destruction of grub-worms, caterpillars, and various kinds of larvæ, the secret and deadly enemies of vegetation. During the months of March, April, May, June, and July, their food is almost wholly insects, and during that period the amount of their insect food, all of it of the most noxious kinds, is perfectly enormous. These they both consume themselves and feed to their young. Wilson estimated the number of insects destroyed by these birds in a single season, in the United States, at twelve thousand millions.

The notes of this bird are very various and indescribable. The mostcommon one sounds likecon-cur-ee. But there is also an almost endless mingling of guttural, creaking, or clear utterances that defy description.

Their eggs vary greatly in size; the largest measures 1.08 inches by .82 of an inch, the smallest .90 by .65. They average about an inch in length and .77 of an inch in breadth. They are oval in shape, have a light-bluish ground, and are marbled, lined, and blotched with markings of light and dark purple and black. These markings are almost wholly about the larger end, and are very varying.

Agelaius phœniceus,var.gubernator,Bon.

CRIMSON-SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD.

Psarocolius gubernator,Wagler, Isis, 1832,IV, 281.Agelaius gubernator,Bon.List, 1838.—Ib.Conspectus, 1850, 430.—Aud.Syn.1839, 141.—Ib.Birds Am. IV, 1842, 29,pl. ccxv.—Newberry,P. R. R. Rep. VI,IV, 1857, 86.—Baird,Birds N. Am.1858, 529.—Heerm.X, S, 53 (nest).—Cooper,Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 263.Icterus(Zanthornus)gubernator,Nuttall,Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 187.

Sp. Char.Bill rather shorter than the head, without any longitudinal sulci, but with faint traces of transverse ones at the base of the lower jaw. Tail rounded. First quill nearly equal to the fourth.

Male.Throughout of a lustrous velvety-black, with a greenish reflection. The lesser coverts rich crimson; the middle coverts brownish-yellow at the base, but the exposed portion black. Wing, 5.00; tail, 3.90; culmen, .90; tarsus, 1.10.

Female.Nearly uniform dark slaty-brown; an indistinct superciliary stripe, an indication of a maxillary stripe, and blended streaks on chin and throat delicate pale peach-blossom pink, this on the jugulum interrupted by dusky streaks running in longitudinal series; lesser wing-coverts tinged with dark wine-red. Wings with just appreciable paler edges to the feathers. Wing, 4.20; tail, 3.20.

Hab.Pacific Province of United States, and Western Mexico, to Colima; Western Nevada (Ridgway). ? Xalapa (Sclater, 1859, 365).

In the female and all the immature stages, the dusky beneath is largely in excess of the light streaks; the superciliary light stripe is badly defined, and there is no trace of a median light stripe on the crown. These characters distinguish this race fromphœniceus; while the rounded instead of square tail, and brown instead of pure white border to middle wing-coverts, distinguish it from corresponding stages oftricolor.

Habits.The Crimson-shouldered Blackbird was first met with by Mr. Townsend, on the Columbia River, where two specimens were obtained, which were described by Mr. Audubon, in his Synopsis, in 1839. No information in regard to its habits, distribution, or nesting, was obtained by either Mr. Townsend or by his companion, Mr. Nuttall.

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 commonphœniceus. 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 withMolothrus pecorisandA. 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 thetricolor, 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 thetricolorwas detected by Dr. Coues in Arizona.

These Blackbirds were found by Mr. Ridgway abundant in the marshy regions of California, but they were rarely met with east of the Sierra Nevada. A few individuals were collected in Nevada in the valley of the Truckee. A few pairs were found breeding among thetulésloughs and marshes. The nests found in the Truckee Reservations were built in low bushes in wet meadows.

A nest procured by Dr. Cooper from the summit of the Coast Range was built of grass and rushes, and lined with finer grass. The eggs are describedas pale greenish-white, with large curving streaks and spots of dark brown, mostly at the large end. They are said to measure one inch by .75 of an inch.

Eggs of this variety in my cabinet, taken in California by Dr. Heermann, are of a rounded-oval shape, nearly equally obtuse at either end, and varying in length from .90 of an inch to an inch, and in breadth from .70 to .80. Their ground-color is a light blue, fading into a bluish-white, marked only around the larger end with waving lines of dark brown, much lighter in shade than the markings of thephœniceususually are.

Agelaius tricolor,Bonap.

RED AND WHITE SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD.

Icterus tricolor, “Nuttall,”Aud.Orn. Biog. V, 1839,I, pl. ccclxxxviii.—Nuttall,Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 186.Agelaius tricolor,Bon.List, 1838.—Aud.Syn.1839, 141.—Ib.Birds Am. IV, 1842, 27,pl. ccxiv.—Heerm.X, S, 53 (nest).—Baird,Birds N. Am.1858, 530.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 1870, 265.

Sp. Char.Tail nearly even. Second and third quills longest; first a little shorter than the fourth. Bill slender, not half as high as long.

Male.General color uniform lustrous velvet-black, with a strong silky-bluish reflection. Shoulders and lesser wing-coverts brownish-red, of much the color of venous blood; the median coverts of a well-defined and nearly pure white, with sometimes a brownish tinge. Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.70; culmen, .97; tarsus, 1.13.

Female.General color dusky slaty-brown, faintly variegated on head also by lighter streaks; middle wing-coverts broadly and sharply bordered with pure white. An obsolete superciliary and maxillary stripe of grayish-white. Beneath grayish-white for anterior half, with narrow streaks of dusky, this color gradually prevailing posteriorly, the sides, flanks, and crissum being nearly uniform dusky. Wing, 4.25; tail, 3.20.

Hab.Pacific Province of United States, from Columbia River southward, not yet found out of California and Oregon.

Immature males sometimes have the white on the wing tinged with brownish-yellow, as inA. phœniceus. The red, however, has the usual brownish-orange shade so much darker and duller than the brilliantly scarlet shoulders of the other species, and the black has that soft bluish lustre peculiar to the species. The relationships generally between the two species are very close, but the bill, as stated, is slenderer and more sulcate intricolor, the tail much more nearly even; the first primary longer, usually nearly equal to or longer than the fourth, instead of the fifth.

Two strong features of coloration distinguish the female and immature stages of this species fromgubernatorandphœniceus. They are, first, the soft bluish gloss of the males, both adult and immature; and secondly, the clear white and broad, not brown and narrow, borders to the middle wing-coverts.

Habits.The Red and White shouldered Blackbird was seen by Mr. Ridgway among thetuléin the neighborhood of Sacramento City, where it was very abundant, associating with theA. phœniceusandgubernator, and the Yellow-headed Blackbird. The conspicuous white stripe on the wingsof this bird renders it easily recognizable from the other species, where they are all seen together. Mr. Ridgway is of the opinion that the notes of the white-shouldered species differ very considerably from those of the two other Blackbirds.

Dr. Heermann found this a very abundant bird in California. He states that during the winter of 1852, when hunting in the marshes of Suisan Valley, he had often, on hearing a dull, rushing, roaring noise, found that it was produced by a single flock of this species, numbering so many thousands as to darken the sky for some distance by their masses. In the northern part of California he met with a breeding-place of this species that occupied several acres, covered with alder-bushes and willow, and was in the immediate vicinity of water. The nests, often four or five in the same bush, were composed of mud and straw, and lined with fine grasses. The eggs he describes as dark blue, marked with lines and spots of dark umber and a few light purple dashes. Dr. Heermann, at different times, fell in with several other breeding-places of this species, similarly situated, but they had all been abandoned, from which he inferred that each year different grounds are resorted to by these birds for the purposes of incubation.

Dr. Kennerly obtained a specimen of this bird on the Colorado River, in California, December, 1854. Dr. Cooper is of the opinion that it is, nevertheless, a rare species in that valley. The latter found them the most abundant species near San Diego and Los Angeles, and not rare at Santa Barbara. North of the last place they pass more into the interior, and extend up as far as Klamath Lake and Southern Oregon.

They are to be seen in considerable flocks even in the breeding-season. Their song, Dr. Cooper states, is not so loud and is more guttural than are those of the other species. Their habits are otherwise very similar, and they associate, in fall and winter, in immense flocks in the interior, though often also found separate.

These birds were first obtained by Mr. Nuttall near Santa Barbara, in the month of April. They were very common there, as well as at Monterey. He observed no difference in their habits from those of the common Redwing, except that they occurred in much larger flocks and kept apart from that species. They were seldom seen, except in the near suburbs of the towns. At that time California was in the possession of Mexico, and its inhabitants were largely occupied in the slaughter of wild cattle for the sake of the hides. Mr. Nuttall found these birds feeding almost exclusively on the maggots of the flesh-flies generated in the offal thus created. They were in large whirling flocks, and associated with theMolothri, the Grakles, the Redwings, and the Yellow-headed Blackbirds. They kept up an incessant chatter and a discordant, confused warble, much more harsh and guttural than even the notes of the Cow Blackbird.

Two eggs of this species, obtained by Dr. Heermann in California, and now in my cabinet, measuring an inch in length by .67 of an inch in breadth,are more oblong in shape than the preceding, but nearly equally obtuse at either end. They are similar in ground-color to thephœniceus, but are of a slightly deeper shade of blue, and are marked around one end with a ring of dark slaty-brown, almost black, lines, and irregular oblong blotches.

GenusXANTHOCEPHALUS,Bonap.

Xanthocephalus,Bonap.Conspectus, 1850, 431. (Type,Icterus icterocephalus,Bonap.)

Illustration: Xanthocephalus icterocephalusXanthocephalus icterocephalus.3912

Xanthocephalus icterocephalus.3912

Gen. Char.Bill conical, the length about twice the height; the outlines nearly straight. Claws all very long; much curved; the inner lateral the longest, reaching beyond the middle of the middle claw. Tail narrow, nearly even, the outer web scarcely widening to the end. Wings long, much longer than the tail; the first quill longest.

This genus differs from typicalAgelaiusin much longer and more curved claws, even tail, and first quill longest, instead of the longest being the second, third, or fourth. The yellow head and black body are also strong marks.

Xanthocephalus icterocephalus,Baird.

YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

Icterus icterocephalus,Bonap.Am. Orn. I, 1825, 27,pl. iii.—Nutt.Man. I, 1832, 176.—Ib., (2d ed.,) 187 (notOriolus icterocephalus,Linn.).Agelaius icterocephalus,Cabanis,Mus. Hein.1851, 188.Icterus(Xanthornus)xanthocephalus,Bonap.J. A. N. Sc. V,II, Feb.1826, 222.—Ib.Syn.1828, 52.Icterus xanthocephalus,Aud.Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 6,pl. ccclxxxviii.Agelaius xanthocephalus,Swainson,F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 281.—Bon.List, 1838.—Aud.Syn.1839, 140.—Ib.Birds Am. IV, 1842, 24,pl. ccxiii.—Newberry,Zoöl. Cal. and Or. Route; Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI,IV, 1857, 86.—Max.Cab. J. VI, 1858, 361.—Heerm.X, S, 52 (nest).Agelaius longipes,Swainson,Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 436.Psarocolius perspicillatus, “Licht.”Wagler, Isis, 1829.VII, 753.Icterus perspicillatus, “Licht.in Mus.”Wagler, as above.Xanthocephalus perspicillatus,Bonap.Consp.1850, 431.Icterus frenatus,Licht.Isis, 1843, 59.—Reinhardt, in Kroyer’s Tidskrift,IV.—Ib.Vidensk. Meddel.for 1853, 1854, 82 (Greenland).Xanthocephalus icterocephalus,Baird,M. B. II, Birds, 18;Birds N. Am.1858, 531.—Cooper,Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 267.

Sp. Char.First quill nearly as long as the second and third (longest), decidedly longer than the fourth. Tail rounded, or slightly graduated. General color black, including the inner surface of wings and axillaries, base of lower mandible all round, feathers adjacent to nostrils, lores, upper eyelids, and remaining space around the eye. The head and neck all round; the forepart of the breast, extending some distance down on the median line, and a somewhat hidden space round the anus, yellow. A conspicuous white patch at the base of the wing formed by the spurious feathers, interrupted by the black alula.

Illustration: Xanthocephalus icterocephalusXanthocephalus icterocephalus.

Xanthocephalus icterocephalus.

Femalesmaller, browner; the yellow confined to the under parts and sides of the head, and a superciliary line. A dusky maxillary line. No white on the wing. Length of male, 10 inches; wing, 5.60; tail, 4.50.

Hab.Western America from Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and North Red River, to California, south into Mexico; Greenland (Reinhardt); Cuba (Cabanis,J. VII, 1859, 350); Massachusetts (Maynard, D. C.Mass.1870, 122); Volusia, Florida (Mus. S. I.); CapeSt.Lucas.

The color of the yellow in this species varies considerably; sometimes being almost of a lemon-yellow, sometimes of a rich orange. There is an occasional trace of yellow around the base of the tarsus. Immature males show every gradation between the colors of the adult male and female.

A very young bird (4,332, DaneCo., Wis.) is dusky above, with feathers of the dorsal region broadly tipped with ochraceous, lesser and middle wing-coverts white tinged with fulvous, dusky below the surface, greater coverts very broadly tipped with fulvous-white; primary coverts narrowly tipped with the same. Whole lower parts unvariegated fulvous-white; head all round plain ochraceous, deepest above.

Habits.The Yellow-headed Blackbird is essentially a prairie bird, and is found in all favorable localities from Texas on the south to Illinois and Wisconsin, and thence to the Pacific. A single specimen is recorded as having been taken in Greenland. This was September 2, 1820, at Nenortalik. Recently the Smithsonian Museum has received a specimen from New Smyrna, in Florida. In October, 1869, a specimen of this bird was taken in Watertown,Mass., and Mr. Cassin mentions the capture of several near Philadelphia. These erratic appearances in places so remote from their centres of reproduction, and from their route in emigration, sufficiently attest the nomadic character of this species.

They are found in abundance in all the grassy meadows or rushy marshes of Illinois and Wisconsin, where they breed in large communities. In swamps overgrown with tall rushes, and partially overflowed, they construct their nests just above the water, and build them around the stems of these water-plants, where they are thickest, in such a manner that it is difficult todiscover them, except by diligent search, aided by familiarity with their habits.

In Texas Mr. Dresser met with a few in the fall, and again in April he found the prairies covered with these birds. For about a week vast flocks remained about the town, after which they suddenly disappeared, and no more were seen.

In California, Dr. Cooper states that they winter in large numbers in the middle districts, some wandering to the Colorado Valley and to San Diego. They nest around Santa Barbara, and thence northward, and are very abundant about Klamath Lake. They associate with the other Blackbirds, but always keep in separate companies. They are very gregarious, even in summer.

Dr. Cooper states that the only song the male attempts consists of a few hoarse, chuckling notes and comical squeakings, uttered as if it was a great effort to make any sound at all.

Dr. Coues speaks of it as less numerous in Arizona than at most other localities where found at all. He speaks of it as a summer resident, but in this I think he may have been mistaken.

In Western Iowa Mr. Allen saw a few, during the first week in July, about the grassy ponds near Boonesboro’. He was told that they breed in great numbers, north and east of that section, in the meadows of the Skunk River country. He also reports them as breeding in large numbers in the Calumet marshes of Northern Illinois.

Sir John Richardson found these birds very numerous in the interior of the fur countries, ranging in summer as far to the north as the 58th parallel, but not found to the eastward of Lake Winnipeg. They reached the Saskatchewan by the 20th of May, in greater numbers than the Redwings.

Through California, as well as in the interior, Mr. Ridgway found the Yellow-headed Blackbird a very abundant species, even exceeding in numbers theA. phœniceus, occurring in the marshes filled with rushes. This species he found more gregarious than the Redwing, and frequently their nests almost filled the rushes of their breeding-places. Its notes he describes as harsher than those of any other bird he is acquainted with. Yet they are by no means disagreeable, while frequently their attempts at a song were really amusing. Their usual note is a deepcluck, similar to that of most Blackbirds, but of a rather deeper tone. In its movements upon the ground its gait is firm and graceful, and it may frequently be seen walking about over the grassy flats, in small companies, in a manner similar to the Cow Blackbird, which, in its movements, it greatly resembles. It nests in the sloughs, among thetulé, and the maximum number of its eggs is four.

Mr. W. J. McLaughlin of Centralia, Kansas, writes (American Naturalist,III, p.493) that these birds arrive in that region about the first of May, and all disappear about the 10th of June. He does not think that any breed there. During their stay they make themselves very valuable to the farmersby destroying the swarms of young grasshoppers. On the writer’s land the grasshoppers had deposited their eggs by the million. As they began to hatch, the Yellow-heads found them out, and a flock of about two hundred attended about two acres each day, roving over the entire lot as wild pigeons feed, the rear ones flying to the front as the insects were devoured.

Mr. Clark met with these birds at New Leon, Mexico. They were always in flocks, mingled with two or three of its congeneric species. They were found more abundant near the coast than in the interior. There was a roost of these birds on an island in a lagoon near Fort Brown. Between sunset and dark these birds could be seen coming from all quarters. For about an hour they kept up a constant chattering and changing of place. Another similar roost was on an island near the mouth of the Rio Grande.

Dr. Kennerly found them very common near Janos and also near Santa Cruz, in Sonora. At the former place they were seen in the month of April in large flocks. He describes them as quite domestic in their habits, preferring the immediate vicinity of the houses, often feeding with the domestic fowls in the yards.

Dr. Heermann states that these birds collect in flocks of many thousands with the species ofAgelaius, and on the approach of spring separate into smaller bands, resorting in May to large marshy districts in the valleys, where they incubate. Their nests he found attached to the upright stalks of the reeds, and woven around them, of flexible grasses, differing essentially from the nests of theAgelaiiin the lightness of their material. The eggs, always four in number, he describes as having a ground of pale ashy-green, thickly covered with minute dots of a light umber-brown.

Mr. Nuttall states that on the2dof May, during his western tour, he saw these birds in great abundance, associated with the Cowbird. They kept wholly on the ground, in companies, the sexes separated by themselves. They were digging into the earth with their bills in search of insects and larvæ. They were very active, straddling about with a quaint gait, and now and then whistling out, with great effort, a chuckling note, sounding likeko-kuk kie-ait. Their music was inferior even to the harsh notes ofM. pecoris.

Several nests of this species, procured in the marshes on the banks of Lake Koskonong, in Southern Wisconsin, were sent me by Mr. Kumlien; they were all light, neat, and elegant structures, six inches in diameter and four in height. The cavity had a diameter of three and a depth of two and a half inches. The base, periphery, and the greater portion of these nests were made of interwoven grasses and sedges. The grasses were entire, with their panicles on. They were impacted together in masses. The inner portions of these nests were made of finer materials of the same. They were placed in the midst of large, overflowed marshes, and were attached to tall flags, usually in the midst of clumps of the latter, and these were so close in their growth that the nests were not easily discovered. They contained,usually, from five to six eggs. These are of an oblong-oval shape, and measure 1.02 inches in length by .70 of an inch in breadth. Their ground-color is of a pale greenish-white, profusely covered with blotches and finer dottings of drab, purplish-brown, and umber.

GenusSTURNELLA,Vieillot.

Sturnella,Vieillot, Analyse, 1816. (Type,Alauda magna,L.)

Illustration: Sturnella magnaSturnella magna.1303

Sturnella magna.1303

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