A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3

by Spencer Fullerton Baird; T. M. Brewer; Robert Ridgway

Family ICTERIDÆ.—The Orioles.

Char. Primaries nine. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly; plated behind. Bill long, generally equal to the head or longer, straight or gently curved, conical, without any notch, the commissure bending downwards at an obtuse angle at the base. Gonys generally more than half the culmen, no bristles about the base of bill. Basal joint of the middle toe free on the inner side; united half-way on the outer. Tail rather long, rounded. Legs stout.

This family is strictly confined to the New World, and is closely related in many of its members to the Fringillidæ. Both have the angulated commissure and the nine primaries; the bill is, however, usually much longer; the rictus is completely without bristles, and the tip of the bill without notch.

The affinities of some of the genera are still closer to the family of Sturnidæ or Starlings, of which the Sturnus vulgaris may be taken as the type. The latter family, is, however, exclusively Old World, except for the occurrence of a species in Greenland, and readily distinguished by the constant presence of a rudimentary outer primary, making ten in all.

There are three subfamilies of the Icteridæ,—the Agelainæ, the Icterinæ, and the Quiscalinæ,[29] which may be diagnosed as follows, although it is difficult to define them with precision:—

Agelainæ. Bill shorter than, or about equal to, the head; thick, conical, both mandibles about equal in depth; the outlines all more or less straight, the bill not decurved at tip. Tail rather short, nearly even or slightly rounded. Legs longer than the head, adapted for walking; claws moderately curved.

Icterinæ. Bill rather slender, about as long as the head; either straight or decurved. Lower mandible less thick than the upper; the commissure not sinuated. Tarsi not longer than the head, nor than middle toe; legs adapted for perching. Claws much curved.

Quiscalinæ. Tail lengthened, considerably or excessively graduated. Bill as long as,or longer than, the head; the culmen curved towards the end, the tip bent down, the cutting edges inflexed, the commissure sinuated. Legs longer than the head, fitted for walking.

Subfamily AGELAINÆ.

Char. Bill stout, conical, and acutely pointed, not longer than the head; the outlines nearly straight, the tip not decurved. Legs adapted for walking, longer than the head. Claws not much curved. Tail moderate, shorter than the wings; nearly even.

The Agelainæ, through Molothrus and Dolichonyx, present a close relation to the Fringillidæ in the comparative shortness and conical shape of the bill, and, in fact, it is very difficult to express in brief words the distinctions which evidently exist. Dolichonyx may be set aside as readily determinate by the character of the feet and tail. The peculiar subfamily characteristics of Molothrus will be found under the generic remarks respecting it.

The following diagnosis will serve to define the genera:—

A. Bill shorter than the head. Feathers of head and nostrils as in B.

Dolichonyx. Tail-feathers with rigid stiffened acuminate points. Middle toe very long, exceeding the head.

Molothrus. Tail with the feathers simple; middle toe shorter than the tarsus or head.

B. Bill as long as the head. Feathers of crown soft. Nostrils covered by a scale which is directed more or less downwards.

Agelaius. First quill shorter than the second and third. Outer lateral claws scarcely reaching to the base of middle; claws moderate.

Xanthocephalus. First quill longest. Outer lateral claw reaching nearly to the tip of the middle. Toes and claws all much elongated.

C. Bill as long as, or longer than, the head. Feathers of crown with the shafts prolonged into stiffened bristles. Nostrils covered by a scale which stands out more or less horizontally.

Sturnella. Tail-feathers acute. Middle toe equal to the tarsus.

Trupialis. Tail-feathers rounded. Middle toe shorter than the tarsus.

Genus DOLICHONYX, Swainson.

Dolichonyx, Swainson, Zoöl. Journ. III, 1827, 351. (Type, Emberiza oryzivora, L.)

Dolichonyx oryzivorus.
977

Gen. Char. Bill short, stout, conical, little more than half the head; the commissure slightly sinuated; the culmen nearly straight. Middle toe considerably longer than the tarsus (which is about as long as the head); the inner lateral toe longest, but not reaching the base of the middle claw. Wings long, first quill longest. Tail-feathers acuminately pointed at the tip, with the shaft stiffened and rigid, as in the Woodpeckers.

The peculiar characteristic of this genus is found in the rigid scansorial

tail and the very long middle toe, by means of which it is enabled to grasp the vertical stems of reeds or other slender plants. The color of the single species is black, varied with whitish patches on the upper parts.

Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Swainson.

BOBOLINK; REEDBIRD; RICEBIRD.

Emberiza oryzivora, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 311.—Gm. I, 1788, 850.—Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 48, pl. xii, f. 1, 2. Passerina oryzivora, Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. XXV, 1817, 3. Dolichonyx oryzivora, Swainson, Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 351.—Ib. F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 278.—Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 437.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 139.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 10, pl. ccxi.—Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 229.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 522.—Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 266.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 255.—Samuels, 335. Icterus agripennis, Bonap. Obs. Wils. 1824, No. 87. Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 283; V, 1839, 486, pl. liv.—Nutt. Man. I, 1832, 185. Icterus (Emberizoides) agripennis, Bon. Syn. 1828, 53. Dolichonyx agripennis, Rich. List, 1837. Psarocolius caudacutus, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, 32.

Dolichonyx oryzivorus.

Sp. Char. General color of male in spring, black; the nape brownish cream-color; a patch on the side of the breast, the scapulars, and rump, white, shading into light ash on the upper tail-coverts and the back below the interscapular region. The outer primaries sharply margined with yellowish-white; the tertials less abruptly; the tail-feathers margined at the tips with pale brownish-ash. In autumn totally different, resembling the female.

Female, yellowish beneath; two stripes on the top of the head, and the upper parts throughout, except the back of the neck and rump, and including all the wing-feathers generally, dark brown, all edged with brownish-yellow, which becomes whiter near the tips of the quills. The sides sparsely streaked with dark brown, and a similar stripe behind the eye. There is a superciliary and a median band of yellow on the head. Length of male, 7.70; wing, 3.83; tail, 3.15.

Hab. Eastern United States to the high Central Plains. North to Selkirk Settlement, and Ottawa, Canada; and west to Salt Lake Valley, Utah, and Ruby Valley, Nevada (Ridgway); Cuba, winter (Caban.); Bahamas (Bryant); Jamaica (Gosse, Scl., Oct.; March, Oct., and in spring); James Island, Galapagos, Oct. (Gould); Sombrero, W. I. (Lawrence); Brazil (Pelzeln); Yucatan.

A female bird from Paraguay (Dec., 1859) is undistinguishable from the average of northern ones, except by the smaller size. Specimens from the western plains differ from those taken near the Atlantic Coast in having the light areas above paler, and less obscured by the grayish wash so prevalent in the latter; the ochraceous of the nape being very pale, and at the same time pure.

Habits. The well-known and familiar Bobolink of North America has, at different seasons of the year, a remarkably extended distribution. In its migrations it traverses all of the United States east of the high central plains to the Atlantic as far to the north as the 54th parallel, which is believed to be its most northern limit, and which it reaches in June. In the winter it reaches, in its wandering, the West Indies, Central America, the northern and even the central portions of South America. Von Pelzeln obtained Brazilian specimens from Matogrosso and Rio Madeira in November, and from Marabitanas, April 4th and 13th. Those procured in April were in their summer or breeding plumage, suggesting the possibility of their breeding in the high grounds of South America. Sclater received specimens from Santa Marta and from Bolivia. Other specimens have been reported as coming from Rio Negro, Rio Napo, in Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, Paraguay, Buenos Ayres, etc.

In North America it breeds from the 42d to the 54th parallel, and in some parts of the country it is very abundant at this season. The most southern breeding locality hitherto recorded is the forks of the Susquehanna River, along the west branch of which, especially in the Wyoming Valley, it was formerly very abundant.

Mr. Ridgway also observed this bird in Ruby Valley where, among the wheat-fields, small companies were occasionally seen in August. He was informed that, near Salt Lake City, these birds are seen in May, and again late in the summer, when the grain is ripe.

Of all our unimitative and natural songsters the Bobolink is by far the most popular and attractive. Always original and peculiarly natural, its song is exquisitely musical. In the variety of its notes, in the rapidity with which they are uttered, and in the touching pathos, beauty, and melody of their tone and expression, its notes are not equalled by those of any other North American bird. We know of none, among our native feathered songsters, whose song resembles, or can be compared with it.

In the earliest approaches of spring, in Louisiana, when small flocks of male Bobolinks make their first appearance, they are said, by Mr. Audubon, to sing in concert; and their song thus given is at once exceedingly novel, interesting, and striking. Uttered with a volubility that even borders upon the burlesque and the ludicrous, the whole effect is greatly heightened by the singular and striking manner in which first one singer and then another, one following the other until all have joined their voices, take up the note and strike in, after the leader has set the example and given the signal. In this manner sometimes a party of thirty or forty Bobolinks will begin, one after the other, until the whole unite in producing an extraordinary medley, to which no pen can do justice, but which is described as very pleasant to listen to. All at once the music ceases with a suddenness not less striking and extraordinary. These concerts are repeated from time to time, usually as often as the flock alight. This performance may

also be witnessed early in April, in the vicinity of Washington, the Smithsonian grounds being a favorite place of resort.

By the time these birds have reached, in their spring migrations, the 40th parallel of latitude, they no longer move in large flocks, but have begun to separate into small parties, and finally into pairs. In New England the Bobolink treats us to no such concerts as those described by Audubon, where many voices join in creating their peculiar jingling melody. When they first appear, usually after the middle of May, they are in small parties, composed of either sex, absorbed in their courtships and overflowing with song. When two or three male Bobolinks, decked out in their gayest spring apparel, are paying their attentions to the same drab-colored female, contrasting so strikingly in her sober brown dress, their performances are quite entertaining, each male endeavoring to outsing the other. The female appears coy and retiring, keeping closely to the ground, but always attended by the several aspirants for her affection. After a contest, often quite exciting, the rivalries are adjusted, the rejected suitors are driven off by their more fortunate competitor, and the happy pair begin to put in order a new home. It is in these love-quarrels that their song appears to the greatest advantage. They pour out incessantly their strains of quaint but charming music, now on the ground, now on the wing, now on the top of a fence, a low bush, or the swaying stalk of a plant that bends with their weight. The great length of their song, the immense number of short and variable notes of which it is composed, the volubility and confused rapidity with which they are poured forth, the eccentric breaks, in the midst of which we detect the words “bob-o-link” so distinctly enunciated, unite to form a general result to which we can find no parallel in any of the musical performances of our other song-birds. It is at once a unique and a charming production. Nuttall speaks of their song as monotonous, which is neither true nor consistent with his own description of it. To other ears they seem ever wonderfully full of variety, pathos, and beauty.

When their contests are ended, and the mated pair take possession of their selected meadow, and prepare to construct their nest and rear their family, then we may find the male bird hovering in the air over the spot where his homely partner is brooding over her charge. All this while he is warbling forth his incessant and happy love-song; or else he is swinging on some slender stalk or weed that bends under him, ever overflowing with song and eloquent with melody. As domestic cares and parental responsibilities increase, his song becomes less and less frequent. After a while it has degenerated into a few short notes, and at length ceases altogether. The young in due time assume the development of mature birds, and all wear the sober plumage of the mother. And now there also appears a surprising change in the appearance of our gayly attired musician. His showy plumage of contrasting white and black, so conspicuous and striking, changes with almost instant rapidity into brown and drab, until he is no longer distinguishable, either by plumage or note, from his mate or young.

At the north, where the Bobolinks breed, they are not known to molest the crops, confining their food almost entirely to insects, or the seeds of valueless weeds, in the consumption of which they confer benefit, rather than harm. At the south they are accused of injuring the young wheat as they pass northward in their spring migrations, and of plundering the rice plantations on their return. About the middle of August they appear in almost innumerable flocks among the marshes of the Delaware River. There they are known as Reedbirds. Two weeks later they begin to swarm among the rice plantations of South Carolina. There they take the name of Ricebirds. In October they again pass on southward, and make another halt among the West India Islands. There they feed upon the seeds of the Guinea-grass, upon which they become exceedingly fat. In Jamaica they receive a new appellation, and are called Butterbirds. They are everywhere sought after by sportsmen, and are shot in immense numbers for the table of the epicure. More recently it has been ascertained that these birds feed greedily upon the larvæ of the destructive cotton-worm, and in so doing render an immense service to the cultivators of Sea Island cotton.

Dr. Bryant, in his visit to the Bahamas, was eye-witness to the migrations northward of these birds, as they passed through those islands. He first noted them on the 6th of May, towards sunset. A number of flocks—he counted nine—were flying to the westward. On the following day the country was filled with these birds, and men and boys turned out in large numbers to shoot them. He examined a quantity of them, and all were males in full plumage. Numerous flocks continued to arrive that day and the following, which was Sunday. On Monday, among those that were shot were many females. On Tuesday but few were to be seen, and on Wednesday they had entirely disappeared.

Near Washington, Dr. Coues observed the Bobolink to be only a spring and autumnal visitant, from May 1st to the 15th distributed abundantly about orchards and meadows, generally in flocks. In autumn they frequented in immense flocks the tracts of Zizania aquatica, along the Potomac, from August 20 to October.

The Bobolink invariably builds its nest upon the ground, usually in a meadow, and conceals it so well among the standing grass that it is very difficult of discovery until the grass is cut. The female is very wary in leaving or in returning to her nest, always alighting upon the ground, or rising from it, at a distance from her nest. The male bird, too, if the nest is approached, seeks to decoy off the intruder by his anxiety over a spot remote from the object of his solicitude. The nest is of the simplest description, made usually of a few flexible stems of grasses carefully interwoven into a shallow and compact nest. The eggs, five or six in number, have a dull white ground, in some tinged with a light drab, in others with olive. They are generally spotted and blotched over the entire egg with a rufous-brown, intermingled with lavender. They are pointed at one end, and measure .90 by .70 of an inch. They have but one brood in a season.

In some eggs, especially those found in more northern localities, the ground-color is drab, with a strong tinge of purple. Over this is diffused a series of obscure lavender-color, and then overlying these are larger and bolder blotches of wine-colored brown. In a few eggs long and irregular lines of dark purple, so deep as to be undistinguishable from black, are added. These eggs are quite pointed at one end.

Genus MOLOTHRUS, Swainson.

Molothrus, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 277; supposed by Cabanis to be meant for Molobrus. (Type, Fringilla pecoris, Gm.)

Molothrus pecoris.
32446

Gen. Char. Bill short, stout, about two thirds the length of head; the commissure straight, culmen and gonys slightly curved, convex, the former broad, rounded, convex, and running back on the head in a point. Lateral toes nearly equal, reaching the base of the middle one, which is shorter than tarsus; claws rather small. Tail nearly even; wings long, pointed, the first quill longest. As far as known, the species make no nest, but deposit the eggs in the nests of other, usually smaller, birds.

The genus Molothrus has the bill intermediate between Dolichonyx and Agelaius. It has the culmen unusually broad between the nostrils, and it extends back some distance into the forehead. The difference in the structure of the feet from Dolichonyx is very great.

Molothrus pecoris.

Species of Molothrus resemble some of the Fringillidæ more than any other of the Icteridæ. The bill is, however, more straight, the tip without notch; the culmen running back farther on the forehead, the nostrils being situated fully one third or more of the total length from its posterior extremity. This is seldom the case in the American families. The entire absence of notch in the bill and of bristles along the rictus are strong features. The nostrils are perfectly free from any overhanging feathers or bristles. The pointed wings, with the first quill longest, or nearly equal to second, and the tail with its broad rounded feathers, shorter than the wings, are additional features to be specially noted.

Molothrus pecoris, Swainson.

COW BLACKBIRD; COWBIRD.

Fringilla pecoris, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 910 (female).—Lath. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 443.—Licht. Verzeich. 1823, Nos. 230, 231. Emberiza pecoris, Wils. Am. Orn. II, 1810, 145, pl. xviii, f. 1, 2, 3. Icterus pecoris, Bonap. Obs. Wilson, 1824, No. 88.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 493; V, 1839, 233, 490, pls. xcix and ccccxxiv. Icterus (Emberizoides) pecoris, Bon. Syn. 1828, 53.—Ib. Specchio comp. No. 41.—Nutt. Man. I, 1832, 178, (2d ed.,) 190. Passerina pecoris, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. XXV, 1819, 22. Psarocolius pecoris, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 20. Molothrus pecoris, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 277.—Rich. List, 1837.—Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Consp. 1850, 436.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 139.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 16, pl. ccxii.—Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 193.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 524.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 257.—Samuels, 339.—Allen, B. Fla. 284. ? Oriolus fuscus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 393. ? Sturnus obscurus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 804 (evidently a Molothrus, and probably, but not certainly, the present species). Molothrus obscurus, Cassin, Pr. Ph. Ac. 1866, 18 (Mira Flores, L. Cal.).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 260. “Icterus emberizoides, Daudin.” ? Sturnus junceti, Lath. Ind. I, 1790, 326 (same as Sturnus obscurus, Gm.). ? Fringilla ambigua, Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 484 (young). Sturnus nove-hispaniæ, Briss. II, 448.

Sp. Char. Second quill longest; first scarcely shorter. Tail nearly even, or very slightly rounded. Male with the head, neck, and anterior half of the breast light chocolate-brown, rather lighter above; rest of body lustrous black, with a violet-purple gloss next to the brown, of steel blue on the back, and of green elsewhere. Female light olivaceous-brown all over, lighter on the head and beneath. Bill and feet black. Length, 8 inches; wing, 4.42; tail, 3.40.

Hab. United States from the Atlantic to California; not found immediately on the coast of the Pacific? Orizaba (Scl. 1857, 213); Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 492); Fort Whipple, Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S., 1866, 90); Nevada and Utah (Ridgway); Mazatlan, Tehuantepec, Cape St. Lucas.

The young bird of the year is brown above, brownish-white beneath; the throat immaculate. A maxillary stripe and obscure streaks thickly crowded across the whole breast and sides. There is a faint indication of a paler superciliary stripe. The feathers of the upper parts are all margined with paler. There are also indications of light bands on the wings. These markings are all obscure, but perfectly appreciable, and their existence in adult birds of any species may be considered as embryonic, and showing an inferiority in degree to the species with the under parts perfectly plain.

Specimens from the west appear to have a rather longer and narrower bill than those from the east. Summer birds of Cape St. Lucas and the Rio Grande are considerably smaller (var. obscurus, Cassin). Length about 6.50; wing, 4.00; tail, 3.00. Some winter skins from the same region are equal in size to the average.

Birds of this species breeding south of the Rio Grande, as well as those from Cape St. Lucas, Mazatlan, etc., are very much smaller than those nesting within the United States; but the transition between the extremes of size is so gradual that it is almost impossible to strike an average

of characters for two races. The extremes of size in this species are as follows:—

	Wing	tail	culmen	tarsus
Largest. (11,271, ♂, Fort Bridger.)	4.60;	3.35;	.72;	1.03.
Smallest. (17,297, ♂, Mira Flores, L. C.)	3.80;	2.65;	.60;	.84.

Habits. The common Cow Blackbird has a very extended distribution from the Atlantic to California, and from Texas to Canada, and probably to regions still farther north. They have not been traced to the Pacific coast, though abundant on that of the Atlantic. Dr. Cooper thinks that a few winter in the Colorado Valley, and probably also in the San Joaquin Valley.

This species is at all times gregarious and polygamous, never mating, and never exhibiting any signs of either conjugal or parental affections. Like the Cuckoos of Europe, our Cow Blackbird never constructs a nest of her own, and never hatches out or attempts to rear her own offspring, but imposes her eggs upon other birds; and most of these, either unconscious of the imposition or unable to rid themselves of the alien, sit upon and hatch the stranger, and in so doing virtually destroy their own offspring,—for the eggs of the Cowbird are the first hatched, usually two days before the others. The nursling is much larger in size, filling up a large portion of the nest, and is insatiable in its appetite, always clamoring to be fed, and receiving by far the larger share of the food brought to the nest; its foster-companions, either starved or stifled, soon die, and their dead bodies are removed, it is supposed, by their parents. They are never found near the nest, as they would be if the young Cow Blackbird expelled them as does the Cuckoo; indeed, Mr. Nuttall has seen parent birds removing the dead young to a distance from the nest, and there dropping them.

For the most part the Cowbird deposits her egg in the nest of a bird much smaller than herself, but this is not always the case. I have known of their eggs having been found in the nests of Turdus mustelinus and T. fuscescens, Sturnella magna and S. neglecta. In each instance they had been incubated. How the young Cowbird generally fares when hatched in the nests of birds of equal or larger size, and the fate of the foster-nurslings, is an interesting subject for investigation. Mr. J. A. Allen saw, in Western Iowa, a female Harporhynchus rufus feeding a nearly full grown Cowbird,—a very interesting fact, and the only evidence we now have that these birds are reared by birds of superior size.

It lays also in the nests of the common Catbird, but the egg never remains there long after the owner of the nest becomes aware of the intrusion. The list of the birds in whose nests the Cow Blackbird deposits her egg and it is reared is very large. The most common nurses of these foundlings in New England are Spizella socialis, Empidonax minimus, Geothlypis trichas, and all our eastern Vireos, namely, olivaceus, solitarius, noveboracensis, gilvus, and flavifrons. Besides these, I have found their eggs in the nests of Polioptila cærulea, Mniotilta varia, Helminthophaga ruficapilla, Dendroica virens, D.

blackburniæ, D. pennsylvanica and D. discolor, Seiurus aurocapillus, Setophaga ruticilla, Cyanospiza cyanea, Contopus virens, etc. I have also known of their eggs having been found in the nests of Vireo belli and V. pusillus, and Cyanospiza amœna. Dr. Cooper has found their egg in the nest of Icteria virens; and Mr. T. H. Jackson of West Chester, Penn., in those of Empidonax acadicus and Pyranga rubra.

Usually not more than a single Cowbird’s egg is found in the same nest, though it is not uncommon to find two; and in a few instances three and even four eggs have been met with. In one instance Mr. Trippe mentions having found in the nest of a Black and White Creeper, besides three eggs of the owner of the nest, no less than five of the parasite. Mr. H. S. Rodney reports having found, in Potsdam, N. Y., May 15, 1868, a nest of Zonotrichia leucophrys of two stories, in one of which was buried a Cowbird’s egg, and in the upper there were two more of the same, with three eggs of the rightful owners. In the spring of 1869 the same gentleman found a nest of the Sayornis fuscus with three Cowbird’s eggs and three of her own.

Mr. Vickary, of Lynn, found, in the spring of 1860, the nest of a Seiurus aurocapillus, in which, with only one egg of the rightful owner, there were no less than four of the Cowbird. All five eggs were perfectly fresh, and had not been set upon. In the summer of the preceding year the same gentleman found a nest of the Red-eyed Vireo containing three eggs of the Vireo and four of the Cow Blackbird.

How the offspring from these eggs may all fare when more than one of these voracious nurslings are hatched in the same nest, is an interesting problem, well worthy the attention of some patiently inquiring naturalist to solve.

The Cow Blackbird appears in New England with a varying degree of promptness, sometimes as early as the latter part of March, and as frequently not until the middle of April. Nuttall states that none are seen in Massachusetts after the middle of June until the following October, and Allen, that they are there all the summer. My own observations do not correspond with the statement of either of these gentlemen. They certainly do become quite rare in the eastern part of that State after the third week in June, but that all the females are not gone is proved by the constant finding of freshly laid eggs up to July 1. I have never been able to find a Cow Blackbird in Eastern Massachusetts between the first of July and the middle of September. This I attribute to the absence of sufficient food. In the Cambridge marshes they remain until all the seeds have been consumed, and only reappear when the new crop is edible.

This Blackbird is a general feeder, eating insects, apparently in preference, and wild seed. They derive their name of Cow Blackbird from their keeping about that animal, and finding, either from her parasitic insects or her droppings, opportunities for food. They feed on the ground, and occasionally scratch for insects. At the South, to a limited extent, they frequent the rice-fields in company with the Redwinged Blackbird.

Mr. Nuttall states that if a Cow Blackbird’s egg is deposited in a nest alone it is uniformly forsaken, and he also enumerates the Summer Yellowbird as one of the nurses of the Cowbird. In both respects I think he is mistaken. So far from forsaking her nest when one of these eggs is deposited, the Red-eyed Vireo has been known to commence incubation without having laid any of her own eggs, and also to forsake her nest when the intrusive egg has been taken and her own left. The D. æstiva, I think, invariably covers up and destroys the Cowbird’s eggs when deposited before her own, and even when deposited afterwards.

The Cow Blackbird has no attractions as a singer, and has nothing that deserves the name of song. His utterances are harsh and unmelodious.

In September they begin to collect in large flocks, in localities favorable for their sustenance. The Fresh Pond marshes in Cambridge were once one of their chosen places of resort, in which they seemed to collect late in September, as if coming from great distances. There they remained until late in October, when they passed southward.

Mr. Ridgway only met with this species in two places, the valley of the Humboldt in September, and in June in the Truckee Valley. Their eggs were also obtained in the Wahsatch Mountains, deposited in the nest of Passerella schistacea, and in Bear River Valley in the nest of Geothlypis trichas.

Mr. Boardman informs me that the Cow Blackbird is a very rare bird in the neighborhood of Calais, Me., so much so that he does not see one of these birds once in five years, even as a bird of passage.

The eggs of this species are of a rounded oval, though some are more oblong than others, and are nearly equally rounded at either end. They vary from .85 of an inch to an inch in length, and from .65 to .70 in breadth. Their ground-color is white. In some it is so thickly covered with fine dottings of ashy and purplish-brown that the ground is not distinguishable. In others the egg is blotched with bold dashes of purple and wine-colored brown.

On the Rio Grande the eggs of the smaller southern race were found in the nests of Vireo belli, and in each of the nests of the Vireo pusillus found near Camp Grant, Arizona, there was an egg of this species. At Cape St. Lucas, Mr. Xantus found their eggs in nests of the Polioptila melanura. We have no information in regard to their habits, and can only infer that they must be substantially the same as those of the northern birds.

The eggs of the var. obscurus exhibit a very marked variation in size from those of the var. pecoris, and have a different appearance, though their colors are nearly identical. Their ground-color is white, and their markings a claret-brown. These markings are fewer, smaller, and less generally distributed, and the ground-color is much more apparent. They measure .60 by .55 of an inch, and their capacity as compared with the eggs of the pecoris is as 33 to 70,—a variation that is constant, and apparently too large to be accounted for on climatic differences.

Genus AGELAIUS, Vieill.

Agelaius, Vieillot, “Analyse, 1816.” (Type, Oriolus phœniceus, L.)

Agelaius phœniceus.
1386

Gen. Char. First quill shorter than second; claws short; the outer lateral scarcely reaching the base of the middle. Culmen depressed at base, parting the frontal feathers; length equal to that of the head, shorter than tarsus. Both mandibles of equal thickness and acute at tip, the edges much curved, the culmen, gonys, and commissure nearly straight or slightly sinuated; the length of bill about twice its height. Tail moderate, rounded, or very slightly graduated. Wings pointed, reaching to end of lower tail-coverts. Colors black with red shoulders in North American species. One West Indian with orange-buff. Females streaked except in two West Indian species.

Agelaius phœniceus.

The nostrils are small, oblong, overhung by a membranous scale. The bill is higher than broad at the base. There is no division between the anterior tarsal scutellæ and the single plate on the outside of the tarsus.

The females of two West Indian species are uniform black. Of these the male of one, A. assimilis of Cuba, is undistinguishable from that of A. phœniceus; and in fact we may without impropriety consider the former as a melanite race of the latter, the change appreciable only in the female. The A. humeralis, also of Cuba, is smaller, and black, with the lesser coverts brownish orange-buff.

Species and Varieties.

Common Characters. Males glossy black without distinct bluish lustre, lesser wing-coverts bright red. Females without any red, and either wholly black or variegated with light streaks, most conspicuous below.

A. phœniceus. Tail rounded. Red of shoulders a bright scarlet tint. Black of plumage without bluish lustre. Females with wing-coverts edged with brownish, or without any light edgings at all.

a. Female continuous deep black, unvariegated.

Middle wing-coverts wholly buff in male.

Wing, 4.40; tail, 3.80; culmen, .95; tarsus, 1.00. Hab. Cuba.

b. Females striped beneath … var. assimilis.[30]

Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.85; culmen, .96; tarsus, 1.10. Female. White stripes on lower parts exceeding the dusky ones in width; a conspicuous lighter superciliary stripe, and one strongly indicated on middle of the crown. Hab. Whole of North America, south to Guatemala … var. phœniceus.

Middle wing-coverts black, except at base.

Wing, 5.00; tail, 3.90; culmen, .90; tarsus, 1.10. Female. White stripes on lower parts narrower than dusky ones; the posterior portion beneath being almost continuously dusky. No trace of median stripe on crown, and the superciliary one indistinct. Hab. Pacific Province of United States, south through Western Mexico … var. gubernator.

Middle wing-coverts wholly white in male.

B. tricolor. Tail square. Red of the shoulders a brownish-scarlet, or burnt-carmine tint. Black of the plumage (both sexes at all ages) with a silky bluish lustre. Female with wing-coverts edged with pure white.

Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.70; culmen, .97; tarsus, 1.13. Female. Like that of gubernator, but with scarcely any brownish tinge to the plumage, and the lesser wing-coverts sharply bordered with pure white. Hab. California (only ?).

PLATE XXXIII.

1. Agelaius phœniceus. ♂ Pa., 1386.

2. Agelaius phœniceus. ♀ Pa., 2174.

3. Agelaius phœniceus. ♂ shoulder.

4. Agelaius gubernator. ♂ shoulder.

5. Agelaius tricolor. ♂ shoulder.

6. Agelaius tricolor. ♂ Cal., 2836.

7. Agelaius tricolor. ♀ Cal., 5532.

8. Agelaius gubernator. ♀ Cal., 5530.

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, 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.

The male of A. assimilis of Cuba cannot be distinguished from small-sized males of phœniceus from the United States, the females, however, as in nearly all West Indian Icteridæ, 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 most

common one sounds like con-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 from phœniceus; while the rounded instead of square tail, and brown instead of pure white border to middle wing-coverts, distinguish it from corresponding stages of tricolor.

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 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.

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 the tulé sloughs 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 described

as 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 the phœniceus usually 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 in A. 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 in tricolor, 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 from gubernator and phœniceus. 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 the tulé in the neighborhood of Sacramento City, where it was very abundant, associating with the A. phœniceus and gubernator, and the Yellow-headed Blackbird. The conspicuous white stripe on the wings

of 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 the Molothri, 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 the phœniceus, 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.

Genus XANTHOCEPHALUS, Bonap.

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

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 typical Agelaius in 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 (not Oriolus 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.

Xanthocephalus icterocephalus.

Female smaller, 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.); Cape St. 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, Dane Co., 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 to

discover 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 the A. 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 deep cluck, 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 the tulé, 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 farmers

by 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 of Agelaius, 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 the Agelaii in 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 the 2d of 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 like ko-kuk kie-ait. Their music was inferior even to the harsh notes of M. 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.

Genus STURNELLA, Vieillot.

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

Sturnella magna.
1303

Sturnella magna.

Gen. Char. Body thick, stout; legs large, toes reaching beyond the tail. Tail short, even, with narrow acuminate feathers. Bill slender, elongated; length about three times the height; commissure straight from the basal angle. Culmen flattened basally, extending backwards and parting the frontal feathers; longer than the head, but shorter than tarsus. Nostrils linear, covered by an incumbent membranous scale. Inner lateral toe longer than the outer, but not reaching to basal joint of middle; hind toe a little shorter than the middle, which is equal to the tarsus. Hind claw nearly twice as long as the middle. Feathers of head stiffened and bristly; the shafts of those above extended into a black seta. Tertials nearly equal to the primaries. Feathers above all transversely banded. Beneath yellow, with a black pectoral crescent.

The only species which we can admit is the S. magna, though under this name we group several geographical races. They may be distinguished as follows:—

Species and Varieties.

1. S. magna. Above brownish, or grayish, spotted and barred with black; crown divided by a median whitish stripe; side of the head whitish, with a blackish streak along upper edge of the auriculars. Beneath more or less yellowish, with a more or less distinct dusky crescent on the jugulum. Sides, flanks, and crissum whitish, streaked with dusky; lateral tail-feathers partly white. Adult. Supraloral spot, chin, throat, breast, and abdomen deep gamboge-yellow; pectoral crescent deep black. Young. The yellow only indicated; pectoral crescent obsolete. Length, about 9.00 to 10.50 inches. Sexes similar in color, but female much smaller.

A. In spring birds, the lateral stripes of the vertex either continuous black, or with black largely predominating; the black spots on the back extending to the tip of the feather, or, if not, the brown tip not barred (except in winter dress). Yellow of the throat confined between the maxillæ, or just barely encroaching upon their lower edge. White of sides, flanks, and crissum strongly tinged with ochraceous.

a. Pectoral crescent much more than half an inch wide.

Wing, 4.50 to 5.00; culmen, 1.20 to 1.50; tarsus, 1.35 to 1.55; middle toe, 1.10 to 1.26 (extremes of a series of four adult males). Lateral stripe of the crown continuously black; black predominating on back and rump (heavy stripes on ochraceous ground). Light brown serrations on tertials and tail-feathers reaching nearly to the shaft (sometimes the terminal ones uninterrupted, isolating the black bars). Hab. Eastern United States … var. magna.

Wing, 3.75 to 4.30; culmen, 1.15 to 1.30; tarsus, 1.50 to 1.75; middle toe, 1.10 to 1.25. (Ten adult males!) Colors similar, but with a greater predominance of black; black heavily prevailing on back and rump, and extending to tip of feathers; also predominates on tertials and tail-feathers. Hab. Mexico and Central America … var. mexicana.[31]

Wing, 4.45; culmen, 1.62; tarsus, 1.50; middle toe, 1.20. (One specimen). Colors exactly as in last. Hab. Brazil … var. meridionalis.[32]

b. Pectoral crescent much less than half an inch wide.

Wing, 3.90 to 4.10; culmen, 1.25 to 1.35; tarsus, 1.40 to 1.55; middle toe, 1.00 to 1.20. (Three adult males.) Colors generally similar to magna, but crown decidedly streaked, though black predominates; ground-color above less reddish than in either of the preceding, with markings as in magna. Pectoral crescent about .25 in breadth. Hab. Cuba … var. hippocrepis.[33]

B. In spring birds, crown about equally streaked with black and grayish; black spots of back occupying only basal half of feathers, the terminal portion being grayish-brown, with narrow bars of black; feathers of the rump with whole exposed portion thus barred. Yellow of the throat extending over the maxillæ nearly to the angle of the mouth.

Wing, 4.40 to 5.05; culmen, 1.18 to 1.40; tarsus, 1.30 to 1.45. (Six adult males.) A grayish-brown tint prevailing above; lesser

wing-coverts concolor with the wings (instead of very decidedly more bluish); black bars of tertials and tail-feathers clean, narrow, and isolated. White of sides, flanks, and crissum nearly pure. Hab. Western United States and Western Mexico … var. neglecta.

In magna and neglecta, the feathers of the pectoral crescent are generally black to the base, their roots being grayish-white; one specimen of the former, however, from North Carolina, has the roots of the feathers yellow, forbidding the announcement of this as a distinguishing character; mexicana may have the bases of these feathers either yellow or grayish; while hippocrepis has only the tips of the feathers black, the whole concealed portion being bright yellow.

In mexicana, there is more of an approach to an orange tint in the yellow than is usually seen in magna, but specimens from Georgia have a tint not distinguishable; in both, however, as well as in hippocrepis, there is a deeper yellow than in neglecta, in which the tint is more citreous.

As regards the bars on tertials and tail, there is considerable variation. Sometimes in either of the species opposed to neglecta by this character there is a tendency to their isolation, seen in the last few toward the ends of the feathers; but never is there an approach to that regularity seen in neglecta, in which they are isolated uniformly everywhere they occur. Two specimens only (54,064 California and 10,316 Pembina) in the entire series of neglecta show a tendency to a blending of these bars on the tail.

Magna, mexicana, meridionalis and hippocrepis, are most similar in coloration; neglecta is most dissimilar compared with any of the others. Though each possesses peculiar characters, they are only of degree; for in the most widely different forms (neglecta and mexicana) there is not the slightest departure from the pattern of coloration; it is only a matter of extension or restriction of the several colors, or a certain one of them, that produces the differences.

Each modification of plumage is attended by a still greater one of proportions, as will be seen from the diagnoses; thus, though neglecta is the largest of the group, it has actually the smallest legs and feet; with nearly the same general proportions, magna exceeds it in the latter respects (especially in the bill), while mexicana, a very much smaller bird than either, has disproportionally and absolutely larger legs and feet united with the smallest size otherwise in the whole series. Meridionalis presents no differences from the last, except in proportions of bill and feet; for while the latter is the smallest of the series, next to neglecta, it has a bill much exceeding that of any other.

The markings of the upper plumage of the young or even winter birds are different in pattern from those of the adult; the tendency being toward the peculiar features of the adult neglecta; the various species in these stages being readily distinguishable, however, by the general characters assigned. Mexicana and neglecta are both in proportions and colors the

most widely different in the whole series; hippocrepis and neglecta the most similar. The relation of the several races to each other is about as follows:—

A. Yellow of throat confined within maxillæ.

Crown with black streaks predominating.

Smallest species, with reddish tints, and maximum amount of black.

Largest bill … meridionalis.

Smallest bill; largest feet … mexicana.

Next largest species, with less reddish tints, and smaller amount of black. Bill and feet the standard of comparison … magna

Crown with the light streaks predominating.

Narrowest pectoral crescent … hippocrepis

B. Yellow of throat covering maxillæ.

Crown with black and light streaks about equal.

Largest species, with grayish tints, and minimum amount of black.

Smallest feet … neglecta.

Sturnella magna, Swainson.

MEADOW LARK; OLD FIELD LARK.

Alauda magna, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 167, ed. 10 (based on Alauda magna, Catesby, tab. 33).—Ib., (12th ed.,) 1766, 289.—Gm. I, 1788, 801.—Wilson, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 20, pl. xix.—Doughty, Cab. I, 1830, 85, pl. V. Sturnella magna, Swainson, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 436.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 535.—Samuels, 343. Sturnus ludovicianus, Linnæus, Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 290.—Gm. I, 802.—Lath. Ind. I, 1790, 323.—Bon. Obs. Wils. 1825, 130.—Licht. Verz. 1823, No. 165.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 216; V, 1839, 492, pl. cxxxvi. Sturnella ludoviciana, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 282.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 147.—Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 429.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 148.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 70, pl. ccxxiii.—Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 192.—Allen, B. E. Fla. 288. Sturnella collaris, Vieill. Analyse, 1816.—Ib. Galerie des Ois. I, 1824, 134, pl. xc. Sturnus collaris, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, 1.—Ib. Isis, 1831, 527. “Cacicus alaudarius, Daudin,” Cabanis.

Sp. Char. The feathers above dark brown, margined with brownish-white, and with a terminal blotch of pale reddish-brown. Exposed portions of wings and tail with dark brown bars, which on the middle tail-feathers are confluent along the shaft. Beneath yellow, with a black pectoral crescent, the yellow not extending on the side of the maxilla; sides, crissum, and tibiæ pale reddish-brown, streaked with blackish. A light median and superciliary stripe, the latter yellow anterior to the eye; a black line behind. Female smaller and duller. Young with pectoral crescent replaced by streaks; the yellow of under surface replaced more or less by ochraceous or pale fulvous. Length, 10.60; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.70; bill above, 1.35.

Hab. Eastern United States to the high Central Plains, north to Southern British Provinces. England (Sclater, Ibis, III, 176).

Habits. The eastern form of the Meadow Lark is found in all the eastern portions of the United States, from Florida to Texas at the south, and from Nova Scotia to the Missouri at the north. Richardson met with it on the

Saskatchewan, where it arrives about the first of May. In a large portion of the United States it is resident, or only partially migratory.

In Maine this species is not abundant. A few are found in Southern Maine, even as far to the east as Calais, where it is very rare. It was not found in Oxford County by Mr. Verrill. In New Hampshire and Vermont, especially in the southern portions, it is much more abundant. Throughout Massachusetts it is a common summer visitant, a few remaining all winter, the greater number coming in March and leaving again in November, at which time they seem to be somewhat, though only partially, gregarious. South of Massachusetts it becomes more generally resident, and is only very partially migratory, where the depth of snow compels them to seek food elsewhere. Wilson states that he met a few of these birds in the month of February, during a deep snow, among the heights of the Alleghanies, near Somerset, Penn.

The favorite resorts of this species are old fields, pasture-lands, and meadows, localities in which they can best procure the insects, largely coleopterous, and the seeds on which they feed. They are not found in woods or thickets, or only in very exceptional cases.

In New England they are shy, retiring birds, and are rarely seen in the neighborhood of houses; but in Georgia and South Carolina, Wilson found them swarming among the rice plantations, and running about in the yards and the out-buildings, in company with the Killdeer Plovers, with little or no appearance of fear, and as if domesticated.

In Alabama and West Florida, Mr. Nuttall states, the birds abound during the winter months, and may be seen in considerable numbers in the salt marshes, seeking their food and the shelter of the sea-coast. They are then in loose flocks of from ten to thirty. At this season many are shot and brought to market. By some their flesh is said to be sweet and good; but this is denied by Audubon, who states it to be tough and of unpleasant flavor.

Mr. Sclater records the occurrence of one or more individuals of this species in England.

The song of the eastern Meadow Lark is chiefly distinguished for its sweetness more than any other excellence. When, in spring, at the height of their love-season, they alight on the post of a fence, a bush, or tree, or any other high object, they will give utterance to notes that, in sweetness and tenderness of expression, are surpassed by very few of our birds. But they are wanting in variety and power, and are frequently varied, but not improved, by the substitution of chattering call-notes, which are much inferior in quality. It is noticeable that at the West there is a very great improvement in the song of this bird as compared with that of their more eastern kindred, though still very far from equalling, either in volume, variety, or power, the remarkable song of the neglecta.

In the fall of the year these birds collect in small companies, and feed together in the same localities, but keeping, individually, somewhat apart.

In New England these birds mate during the latter part of April, and construct their nests in May. They always place their nest on the ground, usually in the shelter of a thick tuft of grass, and build a covered passage to their hidden nest. This entrance is usually formed of withered grass, and so well conceals the nest that it can only be detected by flushing the female from it, or by the anxiety of her mate, who will frequently fly round the spot in so narrow a circuit as to betray its location.

The eggs of the Meadow Lark vary greatly in size and also in their markings, though the general character of the latter is the same. The smallest, from Florida, measure .95 by .68 of an inch. The largest, from Massachusetts, measure 1.20 inches by .90. They have a white ground, marked and dotted with irregular reddish-brown spots. Generally these are equally distributed, but occasionally are chiefly about the larger end. Their shape is oval, nearly equally rounded at either end.

The diversity in the characteristics of the eggs of this species has not unfrequently occasioned remarks, and even suggested conjectures as to specific differences. They are all, however, reconcilable with differences in the age of the parents, and are, to some extent, affected by the circumstances under which they are deposited. The eggs of old, mature birds, deposited in the early summer, or the first brood, are usually sub-globular or obtusely pointed at either end, large in size, and irregularly sprinkled over with fine bright red dots. Younger birds, breeding for the first time, birds that have been robbed of their eggs, or those depositing a third set, have smaller eggs, sometimes two thirds of the maximum size, more oblong and more pointed at one end, and are marked, at the larger end only, with plashes of dark purplish-brown.

Sturnella magna, var. neglecta, Aud.

WESTERN LARK.

Sturnella neglecta, Or. Route; Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, IV, 1857, 86.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 537.—Heerm. X, S, 54.—Cooper & Suckley, 208.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 270. ? Sturnella hippocrepis, (Wagler,) Heermann, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. 2d series, II, 1853, 269, Suisun.

Sp. Char. Feathers above dark brown, margined with brownish-white, with a terminal blotch of pale reddish-brown. Exposed portion of wings and tail with transverse bands, which, in the latter, are completely isolated from each other, narrow and linear. Beneath yellow, with a black pectoral crescent. The yellow of the throat extending on the sides of the maxilla. Sides, crissum, and tibiæ very pale reddish-brown, or nearly white, streaked with blackish. Head with a light median and superciliary stripe, the latter yellow in front of the eye; a blackish line behind it. The transverse bars on the feathers above (less so on the tail) with a tendency to become confluent near the exterior margin. Length, 10 inches; wing, 5.25; tail, 3.25; bill, 1.25.

Hab. Western America from high Central Plains to the Pacific; east to Pembina, and perhaps to Wisconsin, on the north (Iowa, Allen), and Texas on the south; western Mexico, south to Colima.

PLATE XXXIV.

1. Sturnella neglecta. ♂ Nevada, 53592.

2. Sturnella magna. ♂ Pa., 1303.

3. Icterus bullocki. ♂ Ft. Bridger, 11282.

4. Icterus spurius. ♂ La., 4286.

5. Icterus spurius. ♂ juv. Pa., 1437.

6. Icterus spurius. ♀ Pa., 150.

7. Icterus bullocki. ♀ Cal., 3900.

Habits. The differences of plumage between this species and our eastern Meadow Lark are so slight that we might hesitate to allow the existence of any specific distinctness between the two forms, were it not for the very strongly marked differences between them in other respects. Whether we regard them as races or as different species, their history diverges as we cross the Missouri River, though both are found on either bank.

The existence of this variety was first made known by Messrs. Lewis and Clark, in their memorable expedition to the Rocky Mountains. They refer especially to the difference, in the notes, between this bird and the old Field Lark of the east. It remained unnoticed by our ornithologists until 1844, when Mr. Audubon included it in the appendix to his seventh volume. He met with it in his voyage to the Yellowstone, and it would have escaped his notice had not the attention of his party been called to its curious notes. In its flight, manners on the ground, or general habits, he could perceive no difference between it and the common species. None of its nests that he found were covered over, in the manner of the magna, and the eggs were differently marked.

Mr. J. A. Allen, in his interesting paper on the birds observed in Western Iowa, while he does not admit any specific difference between these two forms, presents with impartial exactness the very striking dissimilarity between them, both in habits and in song. In regard to the diversity in habits we quote his words:—

“At the little village of Denison, where I first noticed it in song, it was particularly common, and half domestic in its habits, preferring the streets and grassy lanes, and the immediate vicinity of the village, to the remoter prairie. Here, wholly unmolested and unsuspicious, it collected its food; and the males, from their accustomed perches on the housetops, daily warbled their wild songs for hours together.” These traits of familiarity, so totally different from anything ever observed in our eastern birds, he does not concede, however, as establishing necessarily specific difference. Yet he does admit that its song was so new to him that he did not at first have the slightest suspicion that its utterer was the western Meadow Lark, as he found it to be. He adds: “It differs from that of the Meadow Lark in the Eastern States, in the notes being louder and wilder, and at the same time more liquid, mellower, and far sweeter. They have a pensiveness and a general character remarkably in harmony with the half-dreamy wildness of the primitive prairie, as though the bird had received from its surroundings their peculiar impress. It differs, too, in the less frequency of the harsh, complaining chatter so conspicuous in the eastern bird.”

The value of these marked differences, both in song and character, between the eastern and western birds, we will not argue, but will only add that they are none too strikingly presented by Mr. Allen. During the writer’s brief visit to the Plains he was strongly impressed by the natural, confiding trustfulness of this species and its wonderful beauty of song, both in

such remarkable contrast with the habits of our eastern birds. At Antelope Station a pair of these birds had built their nest under the window of the office, and seemed to enjoy the society of the family, while the depot-master, familiar with the song and habits of our eastern birds, appreciated the great differences between the two forms, and called my attention to them.

Mr. Allen also found this Lark everywhere abundant in Colorado, but its notes appeared to him quite different from those of the representatives of this species living to the eastward, in the prairie States, being less varied and ringing, and more guttural.

Dr. Cooper says this bird is abundant in California, and resident nearly throughout the entire State, breeding in the Colorado Valley and in all other districts not quite waterless. Their songs are lively, sweet, and varied. They sing at all seasons, early and late, from the ground, from the tree-top, or in the air, and when unmolested are so tame as to make the house-top their favorite perch. Even the female has considerable musical power, and cheers her mate by singing to him while he relieves her by sitting on the eggs. She also has a harsh, petulant chirp, frequently repeated as if in anger. He states that they build their nest in a slight depression under a bunch of grass, and usually more or less arched over and artfully concealed. The female, when flushed, usually skulks off some distance before she flies. The eggs he describes as white, with a few large purplish-brown blotches and dots towards the larger end, and measuring 1.15 inches by .85. They are very obtuse in shape.

They feed chiefly on insects, seeds, and grain, do no damage to the crops, and destroy a vast number of noxious insects.

Dr. Suckley found this bird common everywhere in Oregon and Washington Territory, some remaining throughout every winter. In 1855 a few were seen at Fort Dalles as early as March 5. On the 7th he found them quite abundant on the ploughed fields near Fort Vancouver. Some of these had probably remained all the winter. In February, 1856, he found them quite abundant at Fort Steilacoom. At Fort Dalles, by the 2d of May, he obtained young birds nearly fledged.

Mr. Dresser found it very common during winter near San Antonio, where a few remain to breed.

In Arizona, according to Dr. Coues, it is resident, but quite rare.

Lieutenant Couch found these birds from the Rio Grande to the high bottoms of the Lower Bolson de Mapimi. Its notes he speaks of as highly musical, contending even with the Mocking Bird for a supremacy in song.

Mr. Ridgway found the western Meadow Lark one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of California and all fertile portions of the interior as far east as the Missouri, and remarks that, although closely resembling the eastern bird in appearance, its song is totally different, not a note uttered by it having more than a very distant resemblance to any of the well-known magna of the eastern meadows. In the depth of its tone and the charms

of its articulation its song is hardly excelled, resembling very nearly the song of the Wood Thrush. Mr. Ridgway describes its modulations as expressed by the syllables tung-tung-tungah-til’lah-til’lah-tung, each note powerful and distinct. The difference between the other notes of the two birds is still greater than in their song, and even in character these are not alike. In the neglecta the call-note of watchfulness or alarm is a loud, deep-toned tuck, similar to the chuck of the Blackbird, but much louder and more metallic. That of sympathy for the young, or anxiety when the nest is approached, is a loud, liquid tyur, slightly resembling the complaining note of the eastern Bluebird, and also of the Orchard Oriole. All of its notes are of a power corresponding to the size of the bird.

Mr. Ridgway also notices important differences in their flight. That of the eastern species is carried on by an occasional spasmodic beat or jerk of the wings, which are then extended, the bird sailing a short distance. The flight of the western Lark is much more irregular, the bird flitting along by a trembling flutter of the wings, never assuming these peculiar features.

An egg of this species, collected by Dr. Cooper in Washington Territory, June 19, 1856, measures 1.20 inches in length and .86 in breadth. It is of an oblong-oval shape, obtuse; the ground white, sparingly spotted with a very dark purple, most of the markings being at the larger end. Three eggs from Arizona, collected by Dr. Palmer, measure 1.10 inches by .80. The markings are of much lighter shades of lilac, purple, and purplish and reddish-brown. The markings are more generally diffused, but predominate at the larger end. An egg from the Yellowstone, collected by Mr. Audubon, is unusually pointed at one end, measures 1.13 inches by .82. The spots are a dark purplish-brown, intermingled with smaller and lighter dottings of reddish-brown. Eggs from California do not vary essentially in their markings from those of Arizona, and have an average measurement of 1.10 inches by .85. As a general rule, the mottling of the eggs of the western bird is finer than that of the eastern.

Subfamily ICTERINÆ.

Genus ICTERUS, Auct.

Icterus, Brisson, R. A. 1760.—Gray, Genera.

Xanthornus, Cuvier, Leç. Anat. Comp. 1800.—Gray, Genera.

Pendulinus, Vieillot, Analyse, 1816.

Yphantes, Vieillot, Analyse, 1816.—Gray, Genera.

Gen. Char. Bill slender, elongated, as long as the head, generally a little decurved, and very acute. Tarsi not longer than the middle toe, nor than the head; claws short, much curved; outer lateral toe a little longer than the inner, reaching a little beyond base of middle toe. Feet adapted for perching. Tail rounded or graduated. Prevailing colors yellow or orange, and black.

The species of this subfamily are all as strikingly characterized by

diversity and brilliancy of plumage as the others are (with few exceptions) for their uniform sombre black, scarcely relieved by other colors. Of the four genera of this subfamily, recognized by Gray, all but Cacicus are well represented in the United States. This differs from all the rest in having the culmen widened and much depressed towards the base, where it advances in a crescent on the forehead, separating the frontal plumes. In the other genera the culmen advances somewhat on the forehead, but it is in a narrow acute point, and not dilated.

Icterus bullocki.
6721

In studying the North American Orioles we have found it exceedingly difficult to arrange them in any sharply defined sections, as whatever characters be taken as the basis of classification, the other features will not correspond. Thus, species with the bill of the same proportions and amount of curvature differ in the shape and graduation of the tail, while tails of the same form are accompanied by entirely dissimilar bills and wings. The bill is sometimes much attenuated and decurved, as in I. cucullatus, while in melanocephalus and baltimore it is stouter and straighter. The tail is usually much graduated; in I. baltimore and bullocki it is only moderately rounded. These last-mentioned species constitute the genus Hyphantes. Many of the species have a naked space round the eye, very evident in I. vulgaris, less so in melanocephalus. I. vulgaris is peculiar in having the feathers of the throat pointed and lanceolate, as in the ravens.

Icterus bullocki.

In view of the difficulties attendant upon the definition of subordinate groups among the United States Icterinæ, we propose to consider them all under the single genus Icterus, leaving it for some one with more ingenuity to establish satisfactory divisions into sub-genera.[34]

The colors of the Orioles are chiefly black and yellow, or orange, the wing sometimes marked with white. The females are generally much duller in plumage, and the young male usually remains in immature dress till the third year. In all the North American species the rump is of the same color with the belly; the chin, throat, and tail, black.

In the North American Orioles the baltimore and bullocki have the tail but little graduated; spurius, more so; the others very decidedly graduated. The bills of the two first mentioned are stout and nearly straight; that of I. melanocephalus quite similar. I. parisorum has the bill more attenuated, but scarcely more decurved; in spurius it is attenuated and decurved, much as in wagleri; this character is strongest in I. cucullatus. The much graduated tail is combined with a slender decurved bill in I. cucullatus and wagleri; with a straighter one in parisorum; with a thick, nearly straight, one in melanocephalus. The arrangement, according to the graduation of the tail, would be baltimore, bullocki, spurius, parisorum, wagleri, melanocephalus, and cucullatus. According to stoutness and curvature of bill, it would be baltimore, melanocephalus, bullocki,parisorum, spurius wagleri, and cucullatus.

All the species have the rump and under parts yellow or orange. All have the head entirely black, except bullocki, in which its sides are orange, and cucullatus, which has an orange crown. All have black on the throat. In the species with black head and neck, all have the tails black towards the end, except bullocki and baltimore.

The females and young males are so entirely different in colors from the adult males, and so similar in the different species, that they can best be distinguished by the details of form and size. The I. prosthemelas and I. melanocephalus are placed, according to the above arrangement, in different subgenera, yet the young male of the former and the adult male of the latter are so perfectly similar in colors as to be undistinguishable in this respect, and require careful examination of points of external structure to be separated (see description of I. melanocephalus, p. 782).

The following synopsis may help to distinguish the North American Orioles and their nearest allies, as far as color is concerned.

Species and Varieties.

ICTERUS. Head all round deep black, sharply defined against the yellow of the nape; wings black, with or without white markings. Body generally, including lesser wing-coverts, deep greenish-yellow (intense orange-red in some South American species).

I. vulgaris. Feathers of the throat elongated and lanceolate. Bill longer than head. Back and scapulars black; greater coverts and tertials with much white on outer webs; middle wing-coverts white. Rest of plumage, including lesser coverts, chrome-yellow. Sexes alike. Hab. Northern South

America. Jamaica? Accidental in southeastern United States? ? Several races.

I. melanocephalus. Feathers of the throat not elongate and lanceolate, but soft and normal; bill shorter than head. Back and scapulars greenish-yellow. Rest of plumage, including lesser wing-coverts, gamboge-yellow. Sexes alike.

Wings without any white. Wing, 4.00; tail, 4.00; culmen, .95; tarsus, .96. Hab. Southern Mexico … var. melanocephalus.

Wings with white edgings to greater coverts, secondaries and tertials. Wing, 4.25; tail, 4.40; culmen, 1.10; tarsus, 1.10. Hab. Northern Mexico and Rio Grande Valley of United States … var. auduboni.

XANTHORNUS. Back, scapulars, wings, tail, and throat, black; wings and tail with, or without, white. Rest of plumage greenish-yellow, gamboge-yellow, orange, orange-red, or chestnut-rufous.

A. Head and neck, all round, deep black.

a. Tail-feathers wholly black.

I. dominicensis. Head, neck, back, scapulars, wings, tail, and jugulum, deep black; lesser and middle wing-coverts, lining of the wing, anal region, tibiæ, and rump, deep gamboge-yellow. No white on wings or tail. Sexes similar (in all the races?).

Abdomen and sides yellow.

Tail-coverts partially or wholly yellow. Wing, 3.25 to 3.50; Tail, 3.75 to 4.00; culmen, .80; tarsus, .85. Hab. South Mexico to Costa Rica … var. prosthemelas.[35]

Tail-coverts uniform black. Wing, 3.75; tail, 4.50; culmen, .80; tarsus, .90. Hab. Mexico and Guatemala … var. wagleri.

Abdomen and sides black.

Flanks and crissum yellow; upper tail-coverts yellow. Wing, 3.50; tail, 3.50; culmen, .80; tarsus, .85. Hab. Hayti … var. dominicensis.[36]

Flanks black; crissum mostly yellow; upper tail-coverts black. Wing, 3.75; tail, 4.00; culmen, .93; tarsus, .85. Hab. Porto Rico … var. portoricensis.[37]

Flanks black; crissum mostly black; upper tail-coverts black. Wing, 3.75; tail, 3.90; culmen, .80; tarsus, 86. Hab. Cuba … var. hypomelas.[38]

I. spurius. Head, neck, back, scapulars, wings, and tail, deep black; other portions, including lesser and middle wing-coverts, lining of wing, and the tail-coverts, above and below, chestnut-rufous; greater coverts and secondaries edged with dull white, and tail-feathers margined terminally with the same. Female greenish-yellow, darker above. Young male in second year similar, but with a black patch covering face and throat. Wing, 3.20; tail, 3.20, its graduation, .45; culmen, .73; tarsus, .92. Hab. Eastern Province of United States; south throughout Middle America, to New Granada.

b. Tail-feathers (except the two middle ones) with their basal half yellow.

I. parisorum. Head, neck, jugulum, back, scapulars, wings, and terminal half of tail, deep black; rest of plumage, including lesser and middle wing-coverts, bright lemon-yellow, approaching white on the middle coverts; greater coverts tipped with white, and tertials edged with the same; tail-feathers margined terminally with the same. Sexes very different. Hab. Mexico; Rio Grande Valley and Cape St. Lucas.

B. Crown, occiput, nape, and auriculars, orange; frontlet, lores, cheeks, chin, throat, and jugulum, deep black.

I. cucullatus. Back, scapulars, wings, and tail, and patch covering jugulum and throat, extending up over lores, around eyes and across frontlet, deep black. Other portions orange. Sexes very different.

Lesser coverts black; middle coverts white; greater coverts tipped with white, and secondaries, primaries, and tertials edged with the same; tail-feathers with narrow white tips. Wing, 3.30; tail, 4.00; culmen, .80; tarsus, .90. Sexes very unlike. Hab. Southern border of Western United States (San Bernardino, California, Camp Grant, Arizona and Rio Grande of Texas), south through Mexico to Guatemala; Cape St. Lucas … var. cucullatus.

Lesser coverts gamboge-yellow; middle coverts yellow; no white on wings or tail. Wing, 3.50; tail, 3.90; culmen, .85; tarsus, .90. Hab. New Granada, Venezuela, and Trinidad … var. auricapillus.[39]

HYPHANTES. Crown, back, scapulars, wings, and part of tail, deep black; wing with much white. Other portions orange or yellow. Sexes very different.

I. baltimore. Head entirely deep black; tail orange, the feathers black at base; greater coverts broadly tipped with white; secondaries and primaries skirted with the same. Other portions rich, mellow orange, the rump as intense as the breast. Wing, about 3.75; tail, 3.50; culmen, .80; tarsus, .97.

(Specimens from Eastern United States and Middle America with middle coverts deep orange.)

(Specimens from the Plains of Kansas, Nebraska, etc., with middle coverts pure white. Some eastern specimens similar.)

I. bullocki. Head mainly black, with an orange or yellow superciliary stripe, and a broader one beneath the eye, cutting off the black of the throat into a narrow strip; tail orange or yellow, the feathers with black

at ends; greater coverts with outer webs wholly white, and middle coverts entirely white, producing a large conspicuous longitudinal patch on the wing; tertials and secondaries broadly edged with white, and primaries more narrowly skirted with the same. Other portions rich orange or yellow.

Rump grayish-orange; sides and flanks deep orange; forehead and auriculars orange; a broad supraloral stripe of the same. Xanthic tints deep orange, with a reddish tinge on the breast. Wings, 4.00; tail, 3.50; culmen, .80; tarsus, .90. Hab. Western Province of United States … var. bullocki.

Rump black; sides and flanks black; forehead and auriculars black; no yellow or orange supraloral stripes. Xanthic tint a very intense gamboge, without any shade of orange. Wing, 4.00; tail, 3.50; culmen, .75; tarsus, .85. Hab. Mexico … var. abeillei.[40]

Icterus vulgaris, Daudin.

TROUPIAL.

Oriolus icterus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 161. Icterus vulgaris, “Daudin.”—Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1844, 357, pl. ccccxcix.—Bp. Conspectus Av. 1850, 434.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 542.—Cass. P. A. N. S. 1867, 46. Le troupiale vulgaire, Buffon, Pl. enl. “532” (535, Bp.).

Sp. Char. Bill curved. Throat and chin with narrow pointed feathers. A naked space around and behind the eye. Tail-feathers graduated. Head and upper part of neck all round, and beneath from tail to upper part of breast, interscapular region of back, wings, and tail, black. Rest of under parts, a collar on the lower hind neck, rump, and upper tail-coverts, yellow-orange. A broad band on the wing and outer edges of secondaries, white. Length, 10 inches; wing, 4.50; tail, 4.50; bill above, 1.35.

Hab. Northern South America and West Indies? Accidental on the southern coast of the United States?

This is the largest Oriole said to be found in the United States, and differs from the rest in its longer bill, and pointed, elongated feathers on the throat. The bill is attenuated, and somewhat decurved. The third quill is longest, the first quill almost the shortest of all the primaries. The outer tail-feather is about .60 of an inch less than the middle.

There is only a trace of whitish on the edges of the primaries. The broad white edges to the secondaries are continuous in the folded wing with the white on the greater coverts, the lowest row of which, however, is black. The extreme and concealed base of the tail is white.

One specimen has the light markings yellow, instead of orange.

This species is given by Mr. Audubon as North American, on the strength of occasional stragglers from South America. One of the specimens before us was received from Mr. Audubon (2,842), and is, possibly, North American,

although we doubt very much whether the species was ever taken within our limits, except as escaped from captivity.

An allied race (I. longirostris) from New Grenada has a longer and more slender bill, and a paler, lemon-yellow color. The I. aurantius of Brazil lacks the long, pointed, distinct feathers of the throat, and is of an intensely rich orange-red color, with much the same pattern as the present bird.

Habits. The common Troupial of South America and some of the West India Islands is probably only an imported species, or an accidental visitant. It is given by Mr. Audubon in the appendix to his seventh volume, on the strength of a specimen shot in Charleston, S. C., by his son, John W. The bird, when first seen, was perched on the point of the lightning-rod of Dr. Bachman’s house. A few days after others were seen, one of which was shot, though it fell into the river and was lost. Mr. Audubon was afterwards informed that small groups of four or five subsequently made their appearance in the same city and among the islands. If his information was correct, it precludes the supposition that those which have been procured are caged birds. Yet the Troupial is so common and so popular a bird in the cage, that its accidental occurrence is possible in many localities it never visits of its own accord.

This bird is common in all the northern countries of South America, Venezuela, Guiana, Rio Negro, Northern Brazil, etc. Its occurrence in Jamaica and the West Indies may be only accidental. It is said by Daudin to be a common species in South America, where it associates in large flocks, and constructs a large and pensile nest. In confinement it becomes very easily tamed, is reconciled to a life of imprisonment, and is very fond of those who feed and care for it. It has a loud, clear, and ringing whistle, and a great variety of call-notes and single or brief utterances, but rarely indulges in a continuous song. One kept in confinement several years answered readily to the name of Troopy, and always promptly responded, when thus addressed by his mistress, in notes of unmistakable and affectionate recognition. He was very fond of his liberty, and used his sharp bill with such effect that it was difficult to keep him in his cage. When at large he never attempted to escape, but returned upon being called. He, however, acquired such a mortal antipathy to children, attacked them so fiercely when at large, and his sharp bill was so dangerous a weapon, that it was found very necessary to keep him a close prisoner.

The eggs of this species measure 1.02 inches in length by .88 of an inch in breadth; they are a rounded, obtuse oval in shape. Their ground-color is a reddish-drab, and they are very generally blotched with markings of a deep claret-brown and faint purple, the markings being deeper and larger at one end.

Icterus melanocephalus, var. auduboni, Giraud.

AUDUBON’S ORIOLE.

Icterus auduboni, Giraud, Sixteen New Species Texas Birds, 1841 (not paged).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 542.—Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1867, 53. Xanthornus melanocephalus, Bon. Consp. 1850, 434 (not the description of the young). Icterus melanocephalus, Cassin, Ill. I, V, 1854, 137, pl. xxi (the description, but perhaps not the figure).

Sp. Char. Bill stout; upper and lower outlines very little curved downwards. Tail much graduated. Head and neck all round (this color extending down on the throat), tail, and wings black; rest of body, under wing-coverts, and middle and lesser upper coverts, yellow; more olivaceous on the back. An interrupted band across the ends of the greater wing-coverts, with the terminal half of the edges of the quills, white. Supposed female similar, but the colors less vivid. Length, 9.25; wing, 4.00; tail, 4.65; tarsus, 1.10.

Hab. Valley of the Lower Rio Grande of Texas, southward; Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 38); Xalapa (Scl. 132); Vera Cruz (temperate regions; Sumichrast, M. B. S.).

This bird is perhaps rather a local race (larger as more boreal) of I. melanocephalus[41] of Southern Mexico. The differences are indicated in the foot-note.

The adult male of this species can be distinguished from the young male of I. prosthemelas only by stouter and less decurved bill, stronger feet, and black instead of yellow middle wing-coverts.

PLATE XXXV.

1. Icterus auduboni. ♂ Tamaulipas, Mex., 4063.

2. Icterus wagleri. ♂ Guat., 8089.

3. Scolecophagus cyanocephalus. ♀ Nevada, 53596.

4. Scolecophagus ferrugineus. ♂ Pa., 1322.

5. Icterus baltimore. ♂ Ft. Garry, 27046.

6. Icterus cucullatus. ♂ Tamaulipas, Mex., 4066.

7. Icterus parisorum. ♂ N. Leon, Mex., 4056.

8. Sturnus vulgaris. ♂ France, 19020.

Habits. This handsome and rather recent addition to our fauna is a Northern Mexican species, which extends north to the valley of the Rio Grande and into Texas, from various localities in which it has been procured. Lt. D. N. Couch, who found this species common from the Lower Rio Grande to the Sierra Madre, speaks of the strong mutual attachment shown by the sexes. He describes its song as soft and melancholy, and the notes as resembling peut-pou-it. The sweetness of its notes renders it a favorite as a caged bird. In the State of Vera Cruz this bird is given by Sumichrast as inhabiting the temperate regions, and as there having exclusively their centre of propagation. They are very common in the district of Orizaba, where they

breed. Their common name is Calandria, a name also given, without discrimination, to four or five other species of Icteri common in Vera Cruz. Mr. Pease, in 1847, observed either this species or the melanocephalus at Jalapa, and in the neighborhood of the city of Mexico, in considerable numbers. This bird was first described and brought to notice as belonging to our fauna, by Mr. Giraud, in 1841. Since then, Mr. John H. Clark, zoölogist on the Mexican Boundary Survey, obtained several specimens from the Lower Rio Grande. It was first seen by him near Ringgold Barracks. It was not abundant, and its quiet manners and secluded habits prevented it from being very conspicuous. It was most frequently observed by him feeding on the fruit of the hackberry, but whenever approached, while thus feeding, it always showed signs of uneasiness, and soon after sought refuge in some place of greater concealment.

Usually pairs were to be seen keeping close together, apparently preferring the thick foliage found on the margin of ponds, or in the old bed of the river. They did not communicate with each other by any note, and Mr. Clark was struck with their remarkable silence. Their habits seemed to him very different from those of any other Oriole with which he was acquainted.

From the papers of Lieutenant Couch, quoted by Mr. Cassin, we learn that these birds were seen by him, March 3, at Santa Rosalio, eight leagues from Matamoras. They were in pairs, and both sexes were very shy and secluded, seeking insects on the prickly pear, or among the low mimosa-trees, seeming to be never at rest, but ever on the lookout for their favorite food.

While at Charco Escondido, farther in the interior of Tamaulipas, Lieutenant Couch met with a pair of these birds, and having brought down the male bird with his gun, the female flew to a neighboring tree, apparently unaware of her loss. She soon, however, observed his fall, and endeavored to recall him to her side with notes uttered in a strain of such exquisite sadness that he could scarcely believe them uttered by a bird; and so greatly did they excite his sympathy, that he almost resolved to desist from further ornithological collections. He adds that he never heard the lay of any songster of the feathered tribe expressed more sweetly than that of the present species. At Monterey he found it a favorite cage-bird. The female also sings, but her notes are less powerful than those of the male. Generally the flight of this bird was low and rapid, and it seemed to prefer the shade of trees. It was observed almost invariably in pairs, and the male and female showed for each other great tenderness and solicitude.

The eggs of this species measure .90 of an inch in length by .70 in breadth. Their ground-color is a light drab or a dull purplish-white, scattered over which are faint markings of a subdued purple, blending imperceptibly with the ground, and above these markings are dots and irregular zigzag lines of dark brown, and darker purple, almost running into black.

Icterus parisorum, Bonap.

SCOTT’S ORIOLE.

Icterus parisorum, (“Bon. Acad. Bonon. 1836.”)—Bp. Pr. Zoöl. Soc. V, 1837, 109.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 544, pl. lvii, f. 1; Mex. B. II, Birds, 19, pl. xix, f. 1.—Cassin, Pr. 1867, 54.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 276. Xanthornus parisorum, Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 434. Icterus melanochrysura, Lesson, Rev. Zoöl. 1839, 105.—Icterus scotti, Couch, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. VII, April, 1854, 66 (Coahuila).

Sp. Char. Bill attenuated; not much decurved; tail moderately graduated. Head and neck all round, breast, interscapular region, wings, and tail, black. Under parts generally, hinder part of back to the tail, middle and lesser upper, and whole of lower wing-coverts, and base of the tail-feathers, gamboge-yellow; a band across the ends of the greater coverts, with the edges of the inner secondaries and tertiaries, white. Length, 8.25; extent, 11.75; wing, 4.00; tail, 3.75; tarsus, .95.

Female. Olivaceous above, the back with obsolete dusky streaks; rump and under parts yellowish, clouded with gray. Tail brownish-olive on upper surface, more yellow beneath; wings with two white bands.

Hab. Valley of the Rio Grande; south to Guatemala. In Texas, found on the Pecos. Cape St. Lucas. Oaxaca, winter (Scl. 1858, 303); Orizaba (Scl. 1860, 251); Vera Cruz, temp. and alpine (Sum. M. B. S. I, 553).

The bill is slender and attenuated, very little decurved, much less so than in I. cucullatus, slenderer and a little more decurved than in I. baltimore. The tail is moderately graduated, the outer feather .45 of an inch less than the middle.

In this species the black feathers of the neck, except below, have a subterminal bar of yellow; elsewhere it is wanting. The black of the breast comes a little posterior to the anterior extremity of the folded wing. The posterior feathers in the yellow patch on the shoulders are tinged with white. The white in the bar across the ends of the greater coverts is confined mainly to the terminal quarter of an inch of the outer web. In the full plumage, there is only a faint trace of white on the edges of the primaries. The yellow of the base of the tail only extends on the middle feather as far as the end of the upper tail-coverts; on the three outer, it reaches to within an inch and a quarter of the end of the tail.

An immature male has the yellow more tinged with green, the black feathers of the head and back olivaceous with a black spot.

Specimens vary much in size; the more northern being the larger.

Icterus wagleri[42] is an allied species found just south of the Rio Grande by Lieutenant Couch, but not yet detected within our limits.

Habits. Notwithstanding the apparent abundance of the species at Cape St. Lucas, and also in Northern Mexico along our entire border, as far as New Mexico and Texas, our knowledge of its history still remains quite incomplete. A single specimen was obtained in Western Texas on the Pecos River, by Captain Pope, in 1856. Others were obtained by Lieutenant Couch, April, 1853, at Santa Catarina, in Mexico. They were first seen by him in the vicinity of Monterey. They were found to be generally of secluded habits. Their song, consisting of three or four notes, is said to be both rich and melodious.

In the State of Vera Cruz, this species is given by Sumichrast as occurring in both the temperate and the alpine regions. Its common name is Calandria india. They are said by him to occur chiefly in the temperate parts, where they breed, but not to be exclusively confined there, for they are also found in the alpine region to the height of at least five thousand feet, near Orizaba, and on the plateau at even a higher elevation. Dr. Cooper saw a bird at Fort Mohave, in April, which he supposed to be this bird, but he was not able to assure himself of the fact, by obtaining it.

Mr. Xantus found this species very abundant during his stay at Cape St. Lucas, and procured a number of specimens of the birds and of their nests and eggs. From his brief notes we gather that the nests are open, and are not pensile. One, found May 22, was built in a bunch of moss hanging

down from an old cactus. Another was made in a bunch of hops, suspended from a cactus. A third was placed in a bunch of weeds growing out from a crevice in a perpendicular rock. Another, found May 29, was built in a small dead tree, overhung with vines. This nest was about five feet from the ground. A nest containing four young birds was found placed in a bunch of moss, hanging out of a crevice in a rock. These instances serve to show the general character of the position of their nests. Without being pensile they are usually resting upon pendent branches, and are not placed at great elevations.

The eggs measure .90 of an inch in length by .65 in breadth. Their shape is an oblong-oval, and they are obtuse at either end. Their ground-color is a dull white, with a purplish or a bluish tint. They are variously marked, in different eggs, with small blotches and finer dottings of a light purple, purplish-brown, darker purple, and even black.

Icterus spurius, Bon.

ORCHARD ORIOLE.

Oriolus spurius, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 162.—Gm. I, 1788, 389 (very inaccurate description; only identified by the references). Icterus spurius, Bon. Obs. on Nom. Wils. 1825, No. 44.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 221; V, 485 pl. xlii.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 46, pl. ccxix.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 547.—Samuels, 346. Oriolus varius, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 390. Turdus ater, Gm. Syst. 1788, I; 1788, 83. Oriolus castaneus, Latham, Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 181 (same citations as O. varius, Gm.). Turdus jugularis, Latham, Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 361 (same citations as Turdus ater, Gm.). Yphantes solitaria, Vieillot ♂. “Pendulinus nigricollis, Vieill. ♂—viridis, Ib.” Oriolus mutatus, Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 64, pl. iv, f. 1-4. Xanthornus affinis, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. N. H. V, May, 1851, 113 (small race from Texas). Pendulinus s., Cass. Pr. 1867, 61. Pendulinus affinis, Cass. Pr. 1867, 61.

Sp. Char. Bill slender, attenuated, considerably decurved; tail moderately graduated. Male, three years. Head and neck all round, wings, and interscapular region of back, with tail-feathers, black. Rest of under parts, lower part of back to tail, and lesser upper wing-coverts, with the lower one, brownish-chestnut. A narrow line across the wing, and the extreme outer edges of quills, white. Female. Uniform greenish-yellow beneath, olivaceous above, and browner in the middle of the back; two white bands on the wings. Young male of two years like the female, but with a broad black patch from the bill to the upper part of the breast, this color extending along the base of the bill so as to involve the eye and all anterior to it to the base of the bill, somewhat as in I. cucullatus. Length of Pennsylvania male specimens, 7.25; wing, 3.25.

Hab. United States from the Atlantic to the high Central Plains, probably throughout Texas; south to Guatemala. Xalapa (Scl. 1859, 365); Cordova (Scl. 1856, 301); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 20; Lawr. N. Y. Lyc. IX, 104); Rio Atrato (Cass. P. A. N. S. 1860, 140); Costa Rica (Caban. J. 1861, 8); Panama (Lawr. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 331); Cuba (Gundlach); Veragua (Salvin, 1867, 142); Vera Cruz, winter (Sum. M. B. S. I,); Mazatlan.

This species varies greatly in size with its geographical distribution.

Winter specimens from Mexico have the black obscured by brownish borders to the feathers.

Habits. The Orchard Oriole is found abundant throughout most of the United States, from the Atlantic to the Missouri Valley, and on the southwest to the valley of the Rio Grande. Mr. J. A. Allen met with individuals of this species as far west as the base of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado, which he regards as the extreme western limit. It is a very rare summer visitant in New England, though found even as far eastward as Calais, Me. It was not found in Western Maine by Verrill, nor am I aware of its having been met with in either New Hampshire or Vermont. Mr. Allen states that a few pairs breed every season near Springfield, in Western Massachusetts. I have never met with it in the eastern part of the State, but others have been more fortunate, and it is probable that a few visit us each season.

In Texas Mr. Dresser found this species very common at San Antonio during the summer, arriving there quite early in April. He procured a number of their nests, all of which were made of light-colored flexible grasses, and suspended from the upper branches of the mesquite-trees. He also found them breeding near Houston, and on Galveston Island. He describes them as much smaller than birds from the Northern States. This smaller race Mr. Lawrence has regarded as a distinct species, to which he gives the name of affinis. It has been traced as far to the west as Fort Riley in Kansas, and Fort Lookout in Nebraska. It winters in Guatemala, where it is very abundant at that season. Mr. James McLeannan killed it as far south as Panama.

Dr. Elliott Coues considers this bird as rare and chiefly migrant in South Carolina; but Mr. H. S. Rodney (Naturalist, Jan., 1872) found them quite numerous at Camden, in that State, in the summer of 1871. He met with five nests between June 28 and July 19, and has no doubt he could have taken many more, as he counted at least fifteen different pairs. From the fact that Dr. Coues did not meet with any nest at Columbia, only thirty miles distant, Mr. Rodney infers that this Oriole is very partial to certain favored localities, as is also the Baltimore.

The Orchard Oriole is an active, sprightly, and very lively species, and possesses a very peculiar and somewhat remarkable song. Its notes are very rapidly enunciated, and are both hurried and energetic. Some writers speak of the song as confused, but this attribute is not in the utterance of the song, the musician manifesting anything but confusion in the rapid and distinct enunciation of his gushing notes. These may be too quick in their utterance for the listener to follow, but they are wonderful both for their rapidity and their harmony. His performance consists of shrill and lively notes, uttered with an apparent air of great agitation, and they are quite as distinct and agreeable, though neither so full nor so rich, as are those of the more celebrated Golden Robin.

In the Central States, from New York to North Carolina, these birds are

not only very abundant, but very generally diffused. Hardly an orchard or a garden of any size can be found without them. They seem to prefer apple-trees for their abode, and for the construction of their nests. These structures, though essentially different, are, in their style of architecture, quite as curiously wrought and ingenious as those of the Baltimore. They are suspended from small twigs, often at the very extremity of the branches. In Pennsylvania they are usually formed externally of a peculiar kind of long, tough, and flexible grass. This material is woven through and through in a very wonderful manner, and with as much neatness and intricacy as if actually sewed with a needle. They are hemispherical in shape, open at the top, and generally about four inches in breadth and three deep. The cavity has a depth and a width of about two inches.

Wilson states that, having had the curiosity to detach one of these fibres of dried grass from the nest, he found it thirteen inches in length, and that, in that distance, it had been hooked through and returned no less than thirty-four times! In this manner it was passed entirely around the nest. The nests are occasionally lined with wool or the down of seeds. The external portions are strongly fastened to several twigs, so that they may be blown about by the wind without being upset.

Wilson also remarks that he observed that when these nests are built in the long pendent branches of the weeping-willow, where they are liable to much greater motion, though formed of the same materials, they are always made much deeper and of slighter texture. He regards this as a manifestation of a remarkable intelligence, almost equivalent to reason. The willow, owing to the greater density of its foliage, affords better shelter, and is preferred on that account, and owing to the great sweep, in the wind, of the branches, the eggs would be liable to be rolled out if the nest were of the usual depth; hence this adaptation to such positions.

The food of the Orchard Oriole is almost exclusively insects. Of these it consumes a large number, and with them it also feeds its young. Most of these are of the kinds most obnoxious to the husbandman, preying upon the foliage, destroying the fruit, and otherwise injuring the trees, and their destroyers render an incalculable amount of benefit to the gardens they favor with their presence. At the same time they are entirely innocent of injury to crops of any description, and I cannot find that any accusations or expressions of suspicion have been raised against them. They seem to be, therefore, general favorites, and, wherever protected, evince their appreciation of this good-will by their familiarity and numbers.

The female sits upon her eggs fourteen days, and the young remain in the nest about ten days longer. They are supposed to have occasionally two broods in a season, as nests with eggs are found the last of July. They are said to arrive in Pennsylvania about the first of May, and to leave before the middle of September.

According to Wilson they are easily raised from the nest, and become very

tame and familiar. One that he kept through the winter, when two months old whistled with great clearness and vivacity.

All the nests of this species that I have seen from Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, or Texas, have no lining, but are wholly made of one material, a flexible kind of reed or grass.

The sociability of this species is one of its most marked characteristics. Audubon says that he has known no less than nine nests in the same enclosure, and all the birds living together in great harmony.

A nest of this bird, taken in Berlin, Conn., by Mr. Brandigee, has a diameter and a height of four inches. Its cavity is three inches in depth, and varies from three to three and a half in diameter, being widest at the centre, or half-way between the top and the base. It is entirely homogeneous, having been elaborately and skilfully woven of long green blades of grass. The inside is lined with animal wool, bits of yarn, and intermingled with a wooly substance of entirely vegetable origin. It was built from the extremity of the branch of an apple-tree.

An egg of this species, from Washington, measures .85 of an inch in length by .62 in breadth. The ground is a pale bluish-white, blotched with a pale purple, and dashed, at the larger end, with a few deep markings of dark purplish-brown. An egg from New Mexico is similar, but measures .79 of an inch by .54. Both are oblong oval, and pointed at one end.

Icterus cucullatus, Swainson.

HOODED ORIOLE.

Icterus cucullatus, Swainson, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 436.—Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, May, 1851, 116 (first introduced into fauna of United States).—Cassin, Ill. I, II, 1853, 42, pl. viii.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 275.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 546. Pendulinus cucullatus, Bon. Consp. 1850, 433.—Cass. Pr. 1867, 60.

Sp. Char. Both mandibles much curved. Tail much graduated. Wings, a rather narrow band across the back, tail, and a patch starting as a narrow frontal band, involving the eyes, anterior half of cheek, chin, and throat, and ending as a rounded patch on the upper part of breast, black. Rest of body orange-yellow. Two bands on the wing and the edges of the quills white. Female without the black patch of the throat; the upper parts generally yellowish-green, brown on the back, beneath yellowish. Length, 7.50; wing, 3.25.

Hab. Valley of Lower Rio Grande, southward; Tucson, Arizona (Dr. Palmer); Lower California, Cordova (Scl. 1856, 300); Guatemala? (Scl. Ibis I, 20); Cuba? (Lawr. Ann. VII, 1860, 267); San Bernardino, California (Cooper, P. Cal., etc. 1861, 122); Vera Cruz hot region (Sum. M. B. S. I, 553); Mazatlan.

The orange varies greatly in tint and intensity with the individual; sometimes it is deep orange-red; often clear dull yellow, but more frequently of an oily orange.

This species is closely allied to the I. aurocapillus of South America, but

differs in having black, not yellow, shoulders, and in the white markings on the wings.

Habits. The Hooded Oriole is essentially a Mexican species, though it also extends northward into Texas at the Rio Grande, and into Southern California and Arizona. It was not noticed by Dr. Coues in Arizona, but Lieutenant Charles Bendire found it breeding near Tucson in the summer of 1872. It is abundant at Cape St. Lucas. Dr. Cooper found that this species arrived at San Diego about April 22, where they were not rare for a fortnight afterwards, and all then retired into the warmer interior valleys, where he has seen them as far to the north as Los Angeles. While migrating, they were generally silent.

Captain McCown found it quite common on the Rio Grande, where it rears its young. When met with in the woods and far away from the abodes of men, it seemed shy and disposed to conceal itself. Yet a pair of these birds were his constant visitors, morning and evening. They came to the vicinity of his quarters—an unfinished building—at Ringgold Barracks, and at last became so tame and familiar that they would pass from some ebony-trees, that stood near by, to the porch, clinging to the shingles and rafters, frequently in an inverted position, prying into the holes and crevices, apparently in search of spiders and such insects as could be found there. From this occupation they would occasionally desist, to watch his movements. He never could induce them to partake of the food he offered them.

Lieutenant Couch found this species common in the states of Tamaulipas and New Leon. He found their nests generally on or under the tops of the palm known as the Spanish bayonet.

This species is given by Mr. Sumichrast as one of the birds of Vera Cruz, where it is exclusively an inhabitant of the hot region, and where it is rarely found above an elevation of eighteen hundred feet.

These birds were found quite abundant at Cape St. Lucas, Lower California, by Mr. Xantus, by whom a number of their nests and eggs were obtained. The following brief memoranda in regard to a few of these nests will serve to show their general position:—“Nest and two eggs, found May 20, about ten feet from the ground, woven to a small aloe, in a bunch of the Acacia prosopis. Nest and two eggs, found May 22, on a dry tree overhung with hops. Nest and one egg, found May 30, on an acacia, about fifteen feet from the ground. Nest with young, found on an aloe four feet high. Nest and eggs, found on a moss hanging out of a perpendicular bluff, on the sea-coast. Nest and eggs found on a Yucca angustifolia, on its stem, six feet from the ground. Nest and two eggs, found in a convolvulus, on a perpendicular rock fifty feet high. Nest and three eggs, found on an acacia, twenty-five feet high.”

The eggs of this species vary somewhat in shape, some being obtuse and more spherical, others more pointed and oblong. They vary in length from

.92 to .88 of an inch, and from .68 to .65 of an inch in breadth. They have a clear white ground, marbled and blotched with large dashes, dots, and irregular zigzag lines of purple, brown, and black, chiefly disposed around the larger end. In those where the spots are more diffused they are blended with obscure blotches of a faint lavender.

Icterus baltimore, Daudin.

BALTIMORE ORIOLE; GOLDEN ROBIN; HANG-NEST.

Oriolus baltimore, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 162.—Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 23, pl. i.—Ib. VI, 1812, pl. liii. “Icterus baltimore, Daud.”—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 66; V, 1839, 278, pls. xii. and ccccxxiii.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 37, pl. ccxvii.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 548.—Sclater & Salvin, Ex. Orn. I, 69, 188 (diagnosis).—Samuels, 348. Yphantes baltimore, Vieillot, Gal. des Ois. I, 1824, 124, pl. lxxxvii. Psarocolius baltimore, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1825, No. 26. Le Baltimore, Buff. pl. enl. 506, f. 1. Hyphantes b., Cass. Pr. 1867, 62.

Sp. Char. Tail nearly even. Head all round and to middle of back, scapulars, wings, and upper surface of tail, black; rest of under parts, rump, upper tail-coverts, and lesser wing-coverts, with terminal portion of tail-feathers (except two innermost), orange-red. Edges of wing-quills, with a band across the tips of the greater coverts, white. Length, 7.50 inches; wing, 3.75.

The female much less brilliant in color; the black of the head and back generally replaced by brownish-yellow, purer on the throat; each feather with a black spot.

Hab. From Atlantic coast to the high Central Plains, and in their borders; south to Panama. Xalapa (Scl. 1856, 365); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 20); Cuba (Caban. J. IV, 10); Costa Rica (Caban. J. 1861, 7; Lawr. IX, 104); Panama (Lawr. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 331); Veragua (Salv. 1867, 142); Mosquito Coast (Scl. & Salv. 1867, 279); Vera Cruz (autumn, Sum. M. B. S. I, 553).

A young bird is soft, dull orange beneath, palest on the throat, and tinged along the sides with olive; above olive, with an orange cast on the rump and tail, the latter being without any black; centres of dorsal feathers blackish; wings blackish, with two broad white bands across coverts, and broad edges of white to the tertials.

Specimens collected in Western Kansas, by Mr. J. A. Allen, have the middle wing-coverts pure white instead of deep orange, and, according to that naturalist, have more slender bills than Eastern birds. Mr. Allen thinks they form a race peculiar to the plains; but in examining the series of specimens in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution, we have failed to discover any constancy in this respect. A male (5,356, Farm Isl., May 30) from Nebraska has the middle wing-coverts pure white,—the lesser, clear orange; the black throat-stripe is almost separated from the black of the cheeks by the extension forward of the orange on each side of it, only the tips of the feathers being black.

No. 61,192 ♂, Mount Carmel, Ill. (August 12), has the throat-stripe even more isolated, being connected anteriorly for only about a quarter of an inch with the black of the jaw; there is also a distinct indication of an orange

superciliary stripe, mostly concealed, however, by the black tips of the feathers. The middle coverts, like the lesser, are pure plain orange.

A male from Cape May, N. J. (59,458, May), has the middle coverts white, and the lesser wholly uniform black. The head, however, is as in typical specimens.

In a series of twenty adult spring males from Carlisle, Penn., seven have the middle coverts more or less white. But it is noticed that all these specimens with white middle coverts have invariably less intense colors than those with orange shoulders, while in the Kansas specimens the other colors are of the brightest character.

A male from Washington (12,317, May 6) is exactly similar.

Habits. The familiar Baltimore Oriole, the Golden Robin of the New England States, is found throughout eastern North America, at various seasons, from Texas to the British Possessions, and from the Atlantic to the plains. It is, however, for the most part, not common beyond the Mississippi River. It has been traced as far to the north as the 55th parallel of latitude, and probably breeds more or less abundantly in every State east of the Mississippi River. It is rare in Florida, and is not given by Mr. Allen as known to that State, but I have received its nest and eggs from Monticello in West Florida. The Smithsonian Museum embraces specimens from as far west as Powder River and the Yellowstone.

Mr. J. A. Allen (Am. Naturalist, June, 1872) mentions finding this species at the base of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado, which he regards as its extreme western limit. In Kansas he found this species, as well as the Orchard Oriole, abundant, the Baltimore indulging in a dialect so different from that of its northern relatives as often to puzzle him to make out to what bird its strange notes belonged. Its colors were also unusually bright in all the specimens he examined.

Mr. Boardman gives it as very rare at Calais, but Professor Verrill thinks it common in Western Maine. It is abundant throughout the southern and central portions of Vermont, and New Hampshire, and in all New York. It is a common summer resident at Hamilton, Ontario, where it arrives the second week in May. It was found on the plains of the Saskatchewan by Captain Blakiston.

Mr. Dresser states it to have been abundant at Matamoras, where it was breeding, though he was too late for its eggs. He saw none at San Antonio, but Mr. J. H. Clark was more fortunate. Numbers of them, he states, were seen nesting in the mesquite-trees on the prairies, at which time they were very musical, having sometimes as many as three nests in the same tree. These were all built of fine grass, among the top branches, and interwoven with the leaves. Dr. Woodhouse found it quite common in the Indian Territory and in Eastern Texas. Specimens of this species were taken by Mr. James M. Leannan, at Panama, which is presumed to be the most southern locality on record for this bird.

The Baltimore Oriole is one of the most common birds nearly throughout New England. Gay and brilliant in plumage, interesting and lively in manners and habits, and a vocalist of rare power, with pathos, beauty, and variety in his notes, this bird has been, and would still be, a great favorite, but for its transgressions among the pea-vines of our gardens. He makes his appearance with exemplary punctuality, seeming regardless of the prematureness or tardiness of the season. Rarely does the 10th of May pass without the sound of his welcome notes, and rarely, if ever, does he come sooner.

Their period of song is not a long one, but soon terminates, as family cares increase and the tender broods require an undivided attention. Early in July this Oriole ceases to favor the world with those remarkable notes that seldom fail to attract attention by their peculiarity, and to excite admiration by their rich and full-toned melody.

When the male Baltimores first arrive, they come unaccompanied by their mates. At this time their notes are unusually loud, and their voices seem shrill. Their song appears to partake somewhat of the nature of tender lamentations and complaining. At this period they are very active and restless, moving rapidly through the branches of the trees, just opening into leaf and blossom, searching busily for the insects which then form their principal food. When, a few days after their arrival, they are joined by the females, the whole character of their song changes, which becomes a lower-toned, richer, and more pleasing refrain. During their love-season their resonant and peculiarly mellow whistle resounds in every garden and orchard, along the highways of our villages, and in the parks and public squares of our cities.

Nuttall, generally very felicitous in expressing by verbal equivalents the notes of various species of our song-birds, describes the notes of its song as running thus, Tshippe-tshayia-too-too-tshippe-tshippe-too-too, with several other very similar modifications and variations. But these characters give a very inadequate idea of their song. It must be heard to be appreciated, and no description can do justice to its beauties. The notes are of an almost endless variety, and each individual has his own special variations. The female, too, has her own peculiar and very pretty notes, which she incessantly warbles as she weaves her curiously elaborate nest.

To agriculturists this Oriole renders immense service in the destruction of vast numbers of highly injurious insects; among the most noteworthy of these are the common canker-worm and the tent caterpillars, both great pests to orchards. These benefits far more than compensate for its annoying attacks on the pods of esculent peas, the only sin that can rightfully be brought against it, except, perhaps, the acts of theft committed against other birds, in seizing upon and appropriating to it materials collected by smaller birds for their nests.

The Baltimore Orioles are devoted, faithful, and courageous parents, resolutely

defending their young when in danger, and exposing themselves fearlessly to danger and to death rather than forsake them. If their young are taken and caged, the parents follow them, and, if permitted, will continue to feed them.

Mr. Ridgway mentions an instance where the female entered her nest while he was in the act of severing the limb from which it was suspended, and persisted in remaining there until the nest had been cut off and taken into the house. One of these birds, reared from the nest by a family in Worcester, Mass., became perfectly domesticated, was allowed full liberty, and even when taken by the married daughter of its mistress, perched on her finger, through the open grounds to her own house, made no attempt to escape. It delighted in occasional acts of mischief, especially in putting its pointed bill through the meshes of the lace curtains, and then opening its beak, seeming to enjoy the sound produced by tearing the threads.

In the construction of its nest the Oriole displays great skill and ingenuity. This structure is a pendulous and nearly cylindrical pouch, suspended from the extremity of some hanging branch. It is constructed by means of the interweaving of the natural filaments of several flaxlike plants into a homogeneous fabric of great strength, and admirably adapted to its purpose. A nest of this species from West Florida, as well as the one figured by Audubon, was made entirely of the long moss (Tillandsia usneoides) so abundant in Southern forests.

The young birds, before they can fly, climb to the edge of the nest, and are liable, in sudden tempests, to be thrown out. If uninjured, they are good climbers, and by means of wings, bill, and claws, are often able to reach places of safety. In one instance a fledgling, which had broken both legs, and was placed in a basket to be fed by its parents, managed, by wings and bill, to raise itself to the rim, and in a few days took its departure.

The parents feed their young chiefly with caterpillars, which they apparently swallow and then disgorge for this purpose. In confinement they feed readily on soaked bread and fruit, and are especially fond of figs. They are soon reconciled to confinement, become very docile and even playful, sing readily, and will even come at a given signal and alight on the finger of their master.

The eggs of the Baltimore are usually five and rarely six in number. They are of an oblong-oval shape, pointed at one end, and measure .91 of an inch in length by .60 in breadth. Their ground-color is white, with a slight roseate tinge when fresh, fading into a bluish shade in time. They are all variously marked, dotted, and marbled, with spots, blotches, and irregular waving lines of purplish-brown. These markings are of greatly varying shades, from a light purple to almost complete blackness, only perceptibly purplish in a strong light.

Icterus bullocki, Bon.

BULLOCK’S ORIOLE.

Xanthornus bullocki, Sw. Syn. Mex. Birds, Taylor’s Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 436. Agelaius bullocki, Rich. Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1837. Icterus bullocki, Bon. List, 1838.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 9, pls. ccclxxxviii and ccccxxxiii.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 43, pl. ccxviii.—Newberry, Rep. P. R. R. VI, IV, 1857, 87.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 549.—Max. Caban. J. VI, 1858, 259.—Lord, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 121.—Cooper & Suckley, 209.—Sclater & Salvin, Ex. Orn. I, 1869, 188 (diagnosis).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 273. Psarocolius auricollis, Maxim. Reise Nordam. I, 1839, 367 (Fort Pierre, Neb.). Hyphantes b., Cass. Pr. A. N. S. 1867, 62.—Heerm. X, S, 52 (nest).

Sp. Char. Tail very slightly graduated. Upper part of the head and neck, back, wings, two central tail-feathers, line from base of bill through the eye to the black of the nape, and a line from the base of the bill running to a point on the throat, black. Under parts generally, sides of head and neck, forehead and line over the eye, rest of tail-feathers, rump, and upper tail-coverts, yellow-orange. A broad band on the wings, involving the greater and middle coverts, and the outer edges of the quills, white. Young male with the black replaced by greenish-yellow, that on the throat persistent; female without this. The first plumage of the young differs from that of baltimore in being more whitish beneath; lighter olive above, and without dark spots on back; white of middle and greater coverts connected by white edges of the latter. Length, about 7.50 inches; wing, 3.80.

Hab. High Central Plains to the Pacific; rare on Upper Missouri; south into Mexico. City of Mexico (Scl. & Salv. 1869, 362).

A closely allied Mexican species is I. abeillei of Lesson, differing principally in having the sides and rump black.

Habits. Bullock’s Oriole, the western counterpart of the eastern Baltimore, is found throughout the Pacific shore, from the great Central Plains to the ocean, and from Washington Territory to Mexico. It is not given by Sumichrast as occurring in Vera Cruz, where its place is taken, as a migrant, by the Baltimore. It was not noticed by Mr. Dresser on the Rio Grande, but in Arizona it was found by Dr. Coues to be a common summer resident. It was there seen to frequent, almost exclusively, the willows and cottonwoods of the creek-bottoms. To the small twigs of these trees its pensile nests were usually attached. It is said to arrive in Arizona late in April, and to remain there nearly through September.

In the survey of the Mexican boundary Dr. Kennerly met with this species in passing through Guadaloupe cañon, where it was often seen, but it was observed at no other point on the route. It seemed to prefer the low bushes on the hillside to the large trees. In its motions it was quick and restless, passing rapidly from bush to bush.

In Washington Territory this species is stated by Dr. Suckley to be more abundant in the sparsely wooded districts of the eastern base of the Cascade Mountains than in the Coast Range. He found it exceedingly abundant at Fort Dalles and along the eastern base of Mt. Adams. They arrive about

the 15th of May, and were very common among the low oaks of that region. He speaks of its song as very pleasant, and especially melodious early in the morning, when the bird is generally perched on the sunny side or top of an oak.

At Puget Sound, according to Dr. Cooper, these birds do not arrive until the beginning of June, and are at no time very common there. He describes their habits as similar to those of the spurius, they being shy and difficult to discover among the foliage. Their song is more like that of the Baltimore, loud, clear, and varied.

In his Report on the birds of California, Dr. Cooper states that these birds arrive at San Diego, from the south, about March 1; but at Fort Mohave, one hundred and sixty miles farther north, he saw none until a month later. Like the Baltimore Oriole, they resort to the open roads, gardens, and orchards, putting themselves under the protection of man, and repaying him both by their sweet melody and their usefulness in destroying insects. They keep chiefly in the trees and rarely descend to the ground, except to collect materials for their nests. These are suspended from the end of a branch, and are constructed of fibrous grasses, horse-hairs, strings, bits of rags, wool, hempen fibres of plants, etc. At times only a single material is used, such as horse-hair. These nests are neatly and closely interwoven in the form of a deep bag or purse, and are suspended by the edges from the forks of a branch, near its end. They have usually a depth of about four or five inches, and a diameter of about three or three and a half. In most cases they are largely made of the flaxen fibres of wild hempen plants, and by strings of this are firmly bound around the ends of the twigs to which they are suspended. They are lined within with fine, soft vegetable down. In some nests the inner bark of the silkweed largely predominates.

Dr. Cooper states that the eggs of Bullock’s Oriole are, in number, from four to six. He describes them as bluish-white, with scattered, winding streaks and hair-lines of black and reddish-brown near the larger end, measuring .98 by .60 of an inch. In the southern half of California they are laid in the first or second week of May. At Santa Cruz, in 1866, he did not observe any of this species until April 3.

Mr. Allen did not meet with this species in Western Kansas, and it is not included in his list of birds observed by him near Fort Hays. At Ogden and Salt Lake City, in Utah, which he reached the first of September, Bullock’s Oriole had already migrated southward.

In all the fertile portions of the country west of the plains, Mr. Ridgway found Bullock’s Oriole—the western representative of the Baltimore—extremely abundant. In May, when the valley of the Truckee, near Pyramid Lake, was visited, he observed great numbers feeding upon the buds of the grease-wood, in company with the Louisiana Tanager and the Black-headed Grosbeaks. In certain localities there was scarcely a tree that did not contain one or more nests of these birds, and as many as five have been found in

a single tree. Although constructed in a manner almost precisely similar to those of the common eastern species, its nest is less frequently pendulous, being in many cases fixed between the upright twigs near the top of the tree. It is, however, not unfrequently suspended, like that of the Baltimore, from the extremity of a drooping branch, though very rarely in so beautiful a manner. The notes of this Oriole, which are similar to those of the Baltimore, are neither so distinct, so mellow, nor so strong, and their effect is quite different from that produced by the splendid mellow whistling of the eastern species; and the mellow, rolling chatter so characteristic of the latter is not so full in the western species, and generally ends in a sharp chow, much like the curious mewing of an Icteria. He regards Bullock’s Oriole as altogether a less attractive species.

Mr. Lord found this bird by no means an abundant species in British Columbia. Those that were seen seemed to prefer the localities where the scrub-oaks grew, to the pine regions. He found their long, pendulous nests suspended from points of oak branches, without any attempt at concealment. He never met with any of these birds north of Fraser’s River, and very rarely east of the Cascades. A few stragglers visited his quarters at Colville, arriving late in May and leaving early in September, the males usually preceding the females three or four days.

On the Shasta Plains Mr. Lord noticed, in the nesting of this bird, a singular instance of the readiness with which birds alter their habits under difficulties. A solitary oak stood by a little patch of water, both removed by many miles from other objects of the kind. Every available branch and spray of this tree had one of the woven nests of this brilliant bird hanging from it, though hardly known to colonize elsewhere in this manner.

Dr. Coues, in an interesting paper on the habits of this species in the Naturalist for November, 1871, states that its nests, though having a general resemblance in their style of architecture, differ greatly from one another, usually for obvious reasons, such as their situation, the time taken for their construction, and even the taste and skill of the builders. He describes one nest, built in a pine-tree, in which, in a very ingenious manner, these birds bent down the long, straight, needle-like leaves of the stiff, terminal branchlets, and, tying their ends together, made them serve as the upper portion of the nest, and a means of attachment. This nest was nine inches long and four in diameter.

Another nest, described by the same writer, was suspended from the forked twig of an oak, and draped with its leaves, almost to concealment. It had an unusual peculiarity of being arched over and roofed in at the top, with a dome of the same material as the rest of the nest, and a small round hole on one side, just large enough to admit the birds.

The eggs of this Oriole are slightly larger than those of the Baltimore, and their ground-color is more of a creamy-white, yet occasionally with a distinctly bluish tinge. They are marbled and marked with irregular lines and

tracings of dark umber-brown, deepening almost into black, but never so deep as in the eggs of the eastern species. These marblings vary constantly and in a remarkable degree; in some they are almost entirely wanting. They measure .90 of an inch in length by .65 in breadth.

Subfamily QUISCALINÆ.

Scolecophagus ferrugineus.
16775

Char. Bill rather attenuated, as long as or longer than the head. The culmen curved, the tip much bent down. The cutting edges inflected so as to impart a somewhat tubular appearance to each mandible. The commissure sinuated. Tail longer than the wings, usually much graduated. Legs longer than the head, fitted for walking. Color of males entirely black with lustrous reflections.

The bill of the Quiscalinæ is very different from that of the other Icteridæ, and is readily recognized by the tendency to a rounding inward along the cutting edges, rendering the width in a cross section of the bill considerably less along the commissure than above or below. The culmen is more curved than in the Agelainæ. All the North American species have the iris white.

The only genera in the United States are as follows:—

Scolecophagus. Tail shorter than the wings; nearly even. Bill shorter than the head.

Quiscalus. Tail longer than the wings; much graduated. Bill as long as or longer than the head.

Genus SCOLECOPHAGUS, Swainson.

Scolecophagus, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831. (Type, Oriolus ferrugineus, Gmelin.)

Gen. Char. Bill shorter than the head, rather slender, the edges inflexed as in Quiscalus, which it otherwise greatly resembles; the commissure sinuated. Culmen rounded, but not flattened. Tarsi longer than the middle toe. Tail even, or slightly rounded.

The above characteristics will readily distinguish the genus from its allies. The form is much like that of Agelaius. The bill, however, is more attenuated, the culmen curved and slightly sinuated. The bend at the base of the commissure is shorter. The culmen is angular at the base posterior to the nostrils, instead of being much flattened, and does not extend so far behind. The two North American species may be distinguished as follows:—

Synopsis of Species.

S. ferrugineus. Bill slender; height at base not .4 the total length. Color of male black, with faint purple reflection over whole body; wings, tail, and abdomen glossed slightly with green. Autumnal specimens with feathers broadly edged with castaneous rusty. Female brownish dusky slate, without gloss; no trace of light superciliary stripe.

S. cyanocephalus. Bill stout; height at base nearly .5 the total length. Color black, with green reflections over whole body. Head only glossed with purple. Autumnal specimens, feathers edged very indistinctly with umber-brown. Female dusky-brown, with a soft gloss; a decided light superciliary stripe.

Cuba possesses a species referred to this genus (S. atroviolaceus), though it is not strictly congeneric with the two North American ones. It differs in lacking any distinct membrane above the nostril, and in having the bill not compressed laterally, as well as in being much stouter. The plumage has a soft silky lustre; the general color black, with rich purple or violet lustre. The female similarly colored to the male.

Scolecophagus ferrugineus, Swainson.

RUSTY BLACKBIRD.

Oriolus ferrugineus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 393, No. 43.—Lath. Ind. I, 1790, 176. Gracula ferruginea, Wilson, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 41, pl. xxi, f. 3. Quiscalus ferrugineus, Bon. Obs. Wils. 1824, No. 46.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 199.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 315; V, 1839, 483, pl. cxlvii.—Ib. Synopsis, 1839, 146.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 65, pl. ccxxii.—Max. Caban. J. VI, 1858, 204. Scolecophagus ferrugineus, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 286.—Bon. List, 1838.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 551.—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1861, 225.—Cass. P. A. N. S. 1866, 412.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 285 (Alaska). ? ? Oriolus niger, Gmelin, I, 1788, 393, Nos. 4, 5 (perhaps Quiscalus).—Samuels, 350.—Allen, B. E. Fla. 291. Scolecophagus niger, Bonap. Consp. 1850, 423.—Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 195. ? ? Oriolus fuscus, Gmelin, Syst. I, 1788, 393, No. 44 (perhaps Molothrus). Turdus hudsonius, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 818.—Lath. Ind. Turdus noveboracensis, Gmelin, I, 1788, 818. Turdus labradorius, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 832.—Lath. Ind. I, 1790, 342 (labradorus). “Pendulinus ater, Vieillot, Nouv. Dict.” Chalcophanes virescens, Wagler, Syst. Av. (Appendix, Oriolus 9). ? Turdus No. 22 from Severn River, Forster Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 400.

Sp. Char. Bill slender; shorter than the head; about equal to the hind toe; its height not quite two fifths the total length. Wing nearly an inch longer than the tail; second quill longest; first a little shorter than the fourth. Tail slightly graduated; the lateral feathers about a quarter of an inch shortest. General color black, with purple reflections; the wings, under tail-coverts, and hinder part of the belly, glossed with green. In autumn the feathers largely edged with ferruginous or brownish, so as to change the appearance entirely. Spring female dull, opaque plumbeous or ashy-black; the wings and tail sometimes with a green lustre. Young like autumnal birds. Length of male, 9.50; wing, 4.75; tail, 4.00. Female smaller.

Hab. From Atlantic coast to the Missouri. North to Arctic regions. In Alaska on the Yukon, at Fort Kenai, and Nulato.

Scolecophagus ferrugineus.

Habits. The Rusty Blackbird is an eastern species, found from the Atlantic

to the Missouri River, and from Louisiana and Florida to the Arctic regions. In a large portion of the United States it is only known as a migratory species, passing rapidly through in early spring, and hardly making a longer stay in the fall. Richardson states that the summer range of this bird extends to the 68th parallel, or as far as the woods extend. It arrives at the Saskatchewan in the end of April, and at Great Bear Lake, latitude 65°, by the 3d of May. They come in pairs, and for a time frequent the sandy beaches of secluded lakes, feeding on coleopterous insects. Later in the season they are said to make depredations upon the grain-fields.

They pass through Massachusetts from the 8th of March to the first of April, in irregular companies, none of which make any stay, but move hurriedly on. They begin to return early in October, and are found irregularly throughout that month. They are unsuspicious and easily approached, and frequent the streams and edges of ponds during their stay.

Mr. Boardman states that these birds are common near Calais, Me., arriving there in March, some remaining to breed. In Western Massachusetts, according to Mr. Allen, they are rather rare, being seen only occasionally in spring and fall as stragglers, or in small flocks. Mr. Allen gives as their arrival the last of September, and has seen them as late as November 24. They also were abundant in Nova Scotia. Dr. Coues states that in South Carolina they winter from November until March.

These birds are said to sing during pairing-time, and become nearly silent while rearing their young, but in the fall resume their song. Nuttall has heard them sing until the approach of winter. He thinks their notes are quite agreeable and musical, and much more melodious than those of the other species.

During their stay in the vicinity of Boston, they assemble in large numbers, to roost in the reed marshes on the edges of ponds, and especially in those of Fresh Pond, Cambridge. They feed during the day chiefly on grasshoppers and berries, and rarely molest the grain.

According to Wilson, they reach Pennsylvania early in October, and at this period make Indian corn their principal food. They leave about the middle of November. In South Carolina he found them numerous around the rice plantations, feeding about the hog-pens and wherever they could procure corn. They are easily domesticated, becoming very familiar in a few days, and readily reconciled to confinement.

In the District of Columbia, Dr. Coues found the Rusty Grakle an abundant and strictly gregarious winter resident, arriving there the third week in October and remaining until April, and found chiefly in swampy localities, but occasionally also in ploughed fields.

Mr. Audubon found these birds during the winter months, as far south as Florida and Lower Louisiana, arriving there in small flocks, coming in company with the Redwings and Cowbirds, and remaining associated with them until the spring. At this season they are also found in nearly all the Southern and Western States. They appear fond of the company of cattle, and are to be seen with them, both in the pasture and in the farm-yard. They seem less shy than the other species. They also frequent moist places, where they feed upon aquatic insects and small snails, for which they search among the reeds and sedges, climbing them with great agility.

In their habits they are said to resemble the Redwings, and, being equally fond of the vicinity of water, they construct their nests in low trees and bushes in moist places. Their nests are said to be similarly constructed, but smaller than those of the Redwings. In Labrador Mr. Audubon found them lined with mosses instead of grasses. In Maine they begin to lay about the first of June, and in Labrador about the 20th, and raise only one brood in a season.

The young, when first able to fly, are of a nearly uniform brown color. Their nests, according to Audubon, are also occasionally found in marshes of tall reeds of the Typha, to the stalks of which they are firmly attached by interweaving the leaves of the plant with grasses and fine strips of bark. A friend of the same writer, residing in New Orleans, found one of these birds, in full plumage and slightly wounded, near the city. He took it home, and put it in a cage with some Painted Buntings. It made no attempt to molest his companions, and they soon became good friends. It sang during its confinement, but the notes were less sonorous than when at liberty. It was fed entirely on rice.

The memoranda of Mr. MacFarlane show that these birds are by no means uncommon near Fort Anderson. A nest, found June 12, on the branch of a spruce, next to the trunk, was eight feet from the ground. Another nest, containing one egg and a young bird, was in the midst of a branch of a pine, five feet from the ground. The parents endeavored to draw him from their nest, and to turn his attention to themselves. A third, found June 22, contained four eggs, and was similarly situated. The eggs contained large embryos. Mr. MacFarlane states that whenever a nest of this species is approached, both parents evince great uneasiness, and do all in their power, by flying from tree to tree in its vicinity, to attract one from the spot. They are spoken of as moderately abundant at Fort Anderson, and as having been met with as far east as the Horton River. He was also informed by the Eskimos that they extend along the banks of the Lower Anderson to the very borders of the woods.

Mr. Dall states that these Blackbirds arrive at Nulato about May 20, where they are tolerably abundant and very tame. They breed later than some other birds, and had not begun to lay before he left, the last of May. Eggs were procured at Fort Yukon by Mr. Lockhart, and at Sitka by Mr. Bischoff.

Besides these localities, this bird was found breeding in the Barren Grounds of Anderson River in 69° north latitude, on the Arctic coast at Fort Kenai, by Mr. Bischoff, and at Fort Simpson, Fort Rae, and Peel River. It has been found breeding at Calais by Mr. Boardman, and at Halifax by Mr. W. G. Winton.

Eggs sent from Fort Yukon, near the mouth of the Porcupine River, by Mr. S. Jones, are of a rounded-oval shape, measuring 1.03 inches in length by .75 in breadth. In size, shape, ground-color, and color of their markings, they are hardly distinguishable from some eggs of Brewer’s Blackbird, though generally different. All I have seen from Fort Yukon have a ground-color of very light green, very thickly covered with blotches and finer dottings of a mixture of ferruginous and purplish-brown. In some the blotches are larger and fewer than in others, and in all these the purple shading predominates. One egg, more nearly spherical than the rest, measures .98 by .82. None have any waving lines, as in all other Blackbird’s eggs. Two from near Calais, Me., measure 1.02 by .75 of an inch, have a ground of light green, only sparingly blotched with shades of purplish-brown, varying from light to very dark hues, but with no traces of lines or marbling.

According to Mr. Boardman, these birds are found during the summer months about Calais, but they are not common. Only a few remain of those that come in large flocks in the early spring. They pass along about the last of April, the greater proportions only tarrying a short time; but in the fall they stay from five to eight weeks. They nest in the same places with the Redwing Blackbirds, and their nests are very much alike. In early summer they have a very pretty note, which is never heard in the fall.

Scolecophagus cyanocephalus, Cab.

BREWER’S BLACKBIRD.

Psarocolius cyanocephalus, Wagler, Isis, 1829, 758. Scolecophagus cyanocephalus, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 193.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 552.—Cass. P. A. N. S. 1866, 413.—Heerm. X, S, 53.—Cooper & Suckley, 209.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 278. Scolecophagus mexicanus, Swainson, Anim. in Men. 2¼ cent. 1838, 302.—Bon. Conspectus, 1850, 423.—Newberry, Zoöl. Cal. and Or. Route; Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, IV, 1857, 86. Quiscalus breweri, Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 345, pl. ccccxcii.

Sp. Char. Bill stout, quiscaline, the commissure scarcely sinuated; shorter than the head and the hind toe; the height nearly half length of culmen. Wing nearly an inch longer than the tail; the second quill longest; the first about equal to the third. Tail rounded and moderately graduated; the lateral feathers about .35 of an inch shorter. General color of male black, with lustrous green reflections everywhere except on the

head and neck, which are glossed with purplish-violet. Female much duller, of a light brownish anteriorly; a very faint superciliary stripe. Length about 10 inches; wing, 5.30; tail, 4.40.

Hab. High Central Plains to the Pacific; south to Mexico. Pembina, Minn.; S. Illinois (Wabash Co.; R. Ridgway); Matamoras and San Antonio, Texas (breeds; Dresser, Ibis, 1869, 493); Plateau of Mexico (very abundant, and resident; Sumichrast, M. B. S. I, 553).

Autumnal specimens do not exhibit the broad rusty edges of feathers seen in S. ferrugineus.

The females and immature males differ from the adult males in much the same points as S. ferrugineus, except that the “rusty” markings are less prominent and more grayish. The differences generally between the two species are very appreciable. Thus, in S. cyanocephalus, the bill, though of the same length, is much higher and broader at the base, as well as much less linear in its upper outline; the point, too, is less decurved. The size is every way larger. The purplish gloss, which in ferrugineus is found on most of the body except the wings and tail, is here confined to the head and neck, the rest of the body being of a richly lustrous and strongly marked green, more distinct than that on the wings and tail of ferrugineus. In one specimen only, from Santa Rosalia, Mexico, is there a trace of purple on some of the wing and tail feathers.

Habits. This species was first given as a bird of our fauna by Mr. Audubon, in the supplementary pages of the seventh volume of his Birds of America. He met with it on the prairies around Fort Union, at the junction of the Yellowstone and the Missouri Rivers, and in the extensive ravines in that neighborhood, in which were found a few dwarfish trees and tall rough weeds or grasses, along the margin of scanty rivulets. In these localities he met with small groups of seven or eight of these birds. They were in loose flocks, and moved in a silent manner, permitting an approach to within some fifteen or twenty paces, and uttering a call-note as his party stood watching their movements. Perceiving it to be a species new to him, he procured several specimens. He states that they did not evince the pertness so usual to birds of this family, but seemed rather as if dissatisfied with their abode. On the ground their gait was easy and brisk. He heard nothing from them of the nature of a song, only a single cluck, not unlike that of the Redwing, between which birds and the C. ferrugineus he was disposed to place this species.

Dr. Newberry found this Blackbird common both in California and in Oregon. He saw large flocks of them at Fort Vancouver, in the last of October. They were flying from field to field, and gathered into the large spruces about the fort, in the manner of other Blackbirds when on the point of migrating.

Mr. Allen found this Blackbird, though less an inhabitant of the marshes than the Yellow-headed, associating with them in destroying the farmers’

ripening corn, and only less destructive because less numerous. It appears to be an abundant species in all the settled portions of the western region, extending to the eastward as far as Wisconsin, and even to Southeastern Illinois, one specimen having been obtained in Wisconsin by Mr. Kumlien, and others in Wabash Co., Ill., by Mr. Ridgway.

In the summer, according to Mr. Ridgway, it retires to the cedar and piñon mountains to breed, at that time seldom visiting the river valley. In the winter it resorts in large flocks to the vicinity of corrals and barn-yards, where it becomes very tame and familiar. On the 3d of June he met with the breeding-ground of a colony of these birds, in a grove of cedars on the side of a cañon, in the mountains, near Pyramid Lake. Nearly every tree contained a nest, and several had two or three. Each nest was saddled on a horizontal branch, generally in a thick tuft of foliage, and well concealed. The majority of these nests contained young, and when these were disturbed the parents flew about the heads of the intruders, uttering a soft chuck. The maximum number of eggs or young was six, the usual number four or five. In notes and manners it seemed to be an exact counterpart of the C. ferrugineus.

Dr. Suckley found these birds quite abundant at Fort Dalles, but west of the Cascade Mountains they were quite rare. At Fort Dalles it is a winter resident, where, in the cold weather, it may frequently be found in flocks in the vicinity of barn-yards and stables. Dr. Cooper also obtained specimens of this Grakle at Vancouver, and regards it as a constant resident on the Columbia River. He saw none at Puget Sound. In their notes and habits he was not able to trace any difference from the Rusty Blackbird of the Atlantic States. In winter they kept about the stables in flocks of fifties or more, and on warm days flew about among the tree-tops, in company with the Redwings, singing a harsh but pleasant chorus for hours.

Dr. Cooper states it to be an abundant species everywhere throughout California, except in the dense forests, and resident throughout the year. They frequent pastures and follow cattle in the manner of the Molothrus. They associate with the other Blackbirds, and are fond of feeding and bathing along the edges of streams. They have not much song, but the noise made by a large flock, as they sit sunning themselves in early spring, is said to be quite pleasing. In this chorus the Redwings frequently assist. At Santa Cruz he found them more familiar than elsewhere. They frequented the yards about houses and stables, building in the trees of the gardens, and collecting daily, after their hunger was satisfied, on the roofs or on neighboring trees, to sing, for an hour or two, their songs of thanks. He has seen a pair of these birds pursue and drive away a large hawk threatening some tame pigeons.

This species has an extended distribution, having been met with by Mr. Kennicott as far north as Pembina, and being also abundant as far south as Northern Mexico. In the Boundary Survey specimens were procured at

Eagle Pass and at Santa Rosalia, where Lieutenant Couch found them living about the ranches and the cattle-yards.

Mr. Dresser, on his arrival at Matamoras, in July, noticed these birds in the streets of that town, in company with the Long-tailed Grakles Q. macrurus and Molothrus pecoris. He was told by the Mexicans that they breed there, but it was too late to procure their eggs. In the winter vast flocks frequented the roads near by, as well as the streets of San Antonio and Eagle Pass. They were as tame as European Sparrows. Their note, when on the wing, was a low whistle. When congregated in trees, they kept up an incessant chattering.

Dr. Coues found them permanent residents of Arizona, and exceedingly abundant. It was the typical Blackbird of Fort Whipple, though few probably breed in the immediate vicinity. Towards the end of September they become very numerous, and remain so until May, after which few are observed till the fall. They congregate in immense flocks about the corrals, and are tame and familiar. Their note, he says, is a harsh, rasping squeak, varied by a melodious, ringing whistle. I am indebted to this observing ornithologist for the following sketch of their peculiar characteristics:—

“Brewer’s Blackbird is resident in Arizona, the most abundant bird of its family, and one of the most characteristic species of the Territory. It appears about Fort Whipple in flocks in September; the numbers are augmented during the following month, and there is little or no diminution until May, when the flocks disperse to breed.

“The nest is placed in the fork of a large bush or tree, sometimes at the height of twenty or thirty feet, and is a bulky structure, not distantly resembling a miniature Crow’s nest, but it is comparatively deeper and more compactly built. A great quantity of short, crooked twigs are brought together and interlaced to form the basement and outer wall, and with these is matted a variety of softer material, as weed-stalks, fibrous roots, and dried grasses. A little mud may be found mixed with the other material, but it is not plastered on in any quantity, and often seems to be merely what adhered to the roots or plant-stems that were used. The nest is finished inside with a quantity of hair. The eggs are altogether different from those of the Quiscali and Agelæi, and resemble those of the Yellow-headed and Rusty Grakles. They vary in number from four to six, and measure barely an inch in length by about three fourths as much in breadth. The ground-color is dull olivaceous-gray, sometimes a paler, clearer bluish or greenish gray, thickly spattered all over with small spots of brown, from very dark blackish-brown or chocolate to light umber. These markings, none of great size, are very irregular in outline, though probably never becoming line-tracery; and they vary indefinitely in number, being sometimes so crowded that the egg appears of an almost uniform brownish color.

“In this region the Blackbirds play the same part in nature’s economy that the Yellow-headed Troupial does in some other parts of the West, and

the Cowbird and Purple Grakle in the East. Like others of their tribe they are very abundant where found at all, and eminently gregarious, except whilst breeding. Yet I never saw such innumerable multitudes together as the Redwinged Blackbird, or even its Californian congener, A. tricolor, shows in the fall, flocks of fifty or a hundred being oftenest seen. Unlike the Agelæi, they show no partiality for swampy places, being lovers of the woods and fields, and appearing perfectly at home in the clearings about man’s abode, where their sources of supply are made sure through his bounty or wastefulness. They are well adapted for terrestrial life by the size and strength of their feet, and spend much of their time on the ground, betaking themselves to the trees on alarm. On the ground they habitually run with nimble steps, when seeking food, only occasionally hopping leisurely, like a Sparrow, upon both feet at once. Their movements are generally quick, and their attitudes varied. They run with the head lowered and tail somewhat elevated and partly spread for a balance, but in walking slowly the head is held high, and oscillates with every step. The customary attitude when perching is with the body nearly erect, the tail hanging loosely down, and the bill pointing upward; but should their attention be attracted, this negligent posture is changed, the birds sit low and firmly, with elevated and wide-spread tail rapidly flirted, whilst the bright eye peers down through the foliage. When a flock comes down to the ground to search for food, they generally huddle closely together and pass pretty quickly along, each one striving to be first, and in their eagerness they continually fly up and re-alight a few paces ahead, so that the flock seems, as it were, to be rolling over and over. When disturbed at such times, they fly in a dense body to a neighboring tree, but then almost invariably scatter as they settle among the boughs. The alarm over, one, more adventurous, flies down again, two or three follow in his wake, and the rest come trooping after. In their behavior towards man, they exhibited a curious mixture of heedlessness and timidity; they would ramble about almost at our feet sometimes, yet the least unusual sound or movement sent them scurrying into the trees. They became tamest about the stables, where they would walk almost under the horses’ feet, like Cowbirds in a farm-yard.

“Their hunger satisfied, the Blackbirds would fly into the pine-trees and remain a long time motionless, though not at all quiet. They were at singing-school,’ we used to say, and certainly there was room for improvement in their chorus; but if their notes were not particularly harmonious, they were sprightly, varied, and on the whole rather agreeable, suggesting the joviality that Blackbirds always show when their stomachs are full, and the prospect of further supply is good. Their notes are rapid and emphatic, and, like the barking of coyotes, give an impression of many more performers than are really engaged. They have a smart chirp, like the clashing of pebbles, frequently repeated at intervals, varied with a long-drawn mellow whistle. Their ordinary note, continually uttered when they are searching

for food, is intermediate between the guttural chuck of the Redwing and the metallic chink of the Reedbird.

“In the fall, when food is most abundant, they generally grow fat, and furnish excellent eating. They are tender, like other small birds, and do not have the rather unpleasant flavor that the Redwing gains by feeding too long upon the Zizania.

“These are sociable as well as gregarious birds, and allied species are seen associating with them. At Wilmington, Southern California, where I found them extremely abundant in November, they were flocking indiscriminately with the equally plentiful Agelaius tricolor.”

Dr. Heermann found this Blackbird very common in New Mexico and Texas, though he was probably in error in supposing that all leave there before the period of incubation. During the fall they frequent the cattle-yards, where they obtain abundance of food. They were very familiar, alighting on the house-tops, and apparently having no cause for fear of man. Unlike all other writers, he speaks of its song as a soft, clear whistle. When congregated in spring on the trees, they keep up a continual chattering for hours, as though revelling in an exuberance of spirits.

Under the common Spanish name of Pajaro prieto, Dr. Berlandier refers in MSS. to this species. It is said to inhabit the greater part of Mexico, and especially the Eastern States. It moves in flocks in company with the other Blackbirds. It is said to construct a well-made nest about the end of April, of blades of grass, lining it with horse-hair. The eggs, three or four in number, are much smaller than those of Quiscalus macrurus, obtuse at one end, and slightly pointed at the other. The ground-color is a pale gray, with a bluish tint, and although less streaked, bears a great resemblance to those of the larger Blackbird.

Dr. Cooper states that these birds nest in low trees, often several in one tree. He describes the nest as large, constructed externally of a rough frame of twigs, with a thick layer of mud, lined with fine rootlets and grasses. The eggs are laid from April 10 to May 20, are four or five in number, have a dull greenish-white ground, with numerous streaks and small blotches of dark brown. He gives their measurement at one inch by .72. They raise two and probably three broods in a season.

Four eggs of this species, from Monterey, collected by Dr. Canfield, have an average measurement of 1.02 inches by .74. Their ground-color is a pale white with a greenish tinge. They are marked with great irregularity, with blotches of a light brown, with fewer blotches of a much darker shade, and a few dots of the same. In one egg the spots are altogether of the lighter shade, and are so numerous and confluent as to conceal the ground-color. In the other they are more scattered, but the lines and marbling of irregularly shaped and narrow zigzag marking are absent in nearly all the eggs.

Mr. Lord found this species a rare bird in British Columbia. He saw a

few on Vancouver Island in the yards where cattle were fed, and a small number frequented the mule-camp on the Sumas prairie. East of the Cascades he met none except at Colville, where a small flock had wintered in a settler’s cow-yard. They appeared to have a great liking for the presence of those animals, arising from their finding more food and insects there than elsewhere, walking between their legs, and even perching upon their backs.

Captain Blakiston found this species breeding on the forks of the Saskatchewan, June 3, 1858, where he obtained its eggs.

Genus QUISCALUS, Vieillot.

Quiscalus, Vieillot, Analyse, 1816 (Gray). (Type, Gracula quiscala, L.)

Quiscalus purpureus.
2104

Sp. Char. Bill as long as the head, the culmen slightly curved, the gonys almost straight; the edges of the bill inflected and rounded; the commissure quite strongly sinuated. Outlines of tarsal scutellæ well defined on the sides; tail long, boat-shaped, or capable of folding so that the two sides can almost be brought together upward, the feathers conspicuously and decidedly graduated, their inner webs longer than the outer. Color black.

The excessive graduation of the long tail, with the perfectly black color, at once distinguishes this genus from any other in the United States. Two types may be distinguished: one Quiscalus, in which the females are much like the males, although a little smaller and perhaps with rather less lustre; the other, Megaquiscalus, much larger, with the tail more graduated, the females considerably smaller, and of a brown or rusty color. The Quiscali are all from North America or the West Indies (including Trinidad); none having been positively determined as South American. The Megaquiscali are Mexican and Gulf species entirely, while a third group, the Holoquiscali, is West Indian.

Synopsis of Species and Varieties.

A. QUISCALUS. Sexes nearly similar in plumage. Color black; each species glossed with different shades of bronze, purple, violet, green, etc. Lateral tail-feathers about .75 the length of central. Hab. Eastern United States. Proportion of wing to tail variable.

Q. purpureus. a. Body uniform brassy-olive without varying tints. Head and neck steel-blue, more violaceous anteriorly.

1. Length, 13.50; wing, 5.50 to 5.65; tail, 5.70 to 5.80, its graduation, 1.50; culmen, 1.35 to 1.40. Vivid blue of the neck all round abruptly defined against the brassy-olive of the body. Female. Wing, 5.20; tail, 4.85 to 5.10. Hab. Interior portions of North America, from Texas and Louisiana to Saskatchewan and Hudson’s Bay Territory; New England States; Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory … var. æneus.

b. Body variegated with purple, green, and blue tints. Head and neck violaceous-purple, more blue anteriorly.

2. Length, 12.50; wing, 5.60; tail, 5.30, its graduation, 1.20; culmen, 1.32. Dark purple of neck all round passing over the breast, and appearing in patches on the lower parts. Wing and tail purplish; tail-coverts reddish-purple. Female. Wing, 5.10; tail, 4.50. Hab. Atlantic coast of United States … var. purpureus.

3. Length, 11.75; wing, 4.85 to 5.60; tail, 4.60 to 5.50, its graduation, .90; culmen, 1.38 to 1.66. Dark purple of neck sharply defined against the dull blackish olive-green of the body. Wings and tail greenish-blue; tail-coverts violet-blue. Female. Wing, 4.65 to 4.90; tail, 3.80 to 4.60. Hab. South Florida; resident … var. agelaius.

B. HOLOQUISCALUS. (Cassin.) Tail shorter than wings; sexes similar. Color glossy black, but without varying shades of gloss; nearly uniform in each species. Tail moderately graduated. Hab. West India Islands, almost exclusively; Mexico and South America.

Q. baritus. Black, with a soft bluish-violet gloss, changing on wings and tail into bluish-green.

Culmen decidedly curved; base of mandibles on sides, smooth.

1. Bill robust, commissure sinuated; depth of bill, at base, .54; culmen, 1.33; wing, 6.15; tail, 5.50, its graduation, 1.30. Female. Wing, 5.20; tail, 4.70; other measurements in proportion. Hab. Jamaica … var. baritus.[43]

2. Bill slender, commissure scarcely sinuated; depth of bill, .43; culmen, 1.35; wing, 5.40; tail, 5.10, its graduation, 1.20. Female. Wing, 4.60; tail, 4.20. Hab. Porto Rico … var. brachypterus.[44]

Culmen almost straight; base of mandibles on sides corrugated.

3. Depth of bill, .51; culmen, 1.44; wing, 6.00; tail, 5.50, its graduation, 1.50. Female. Wing, 5.15; tail, 4.80. Hab. Cuba … var. gundlachi.[45]

4. Depth of bill, .40; culmen, 1.35; wing, 5.00; tail, 4.50, its graduation, .85. Hab. Hayti … var. niger.[46]

C. MEGAQUISCALUS. (Cassin.) Tail longer than wings. Sexes very unlike. Female much smaller, and very different in color, being olivaceous-brown, lightest beneath. Male without varying shades of color; lateral tail-feather about .60 the middle, or less.

Q. major. Culmen strongly decurved terminally; bill robust. Female with back, nape, and crown like the wings; abdomen much darker than throat.

Lustre of the plumage green, passing into violet anteriorly on head and neck.

1. Length, 15.00; wing, 7.50; tail, 7.70, its graduation, 2.50; culmen, 1.60. Female. Wing, 5.10. Hab. South Atlantic and Gulf coast of United States … var. major.

Lustre, violet passing into green posteriorly.

2. Length, 14.00; wing, 6.75; tail, 7.20, its graduation, 2.40; culmen, 1.57. Female. Wing, 5.30; tail, 5.00. Hab. Western Mexico. (Mazatlan, Colima, etc.) … var. palustris.[47]

3. Length, 18.00; wing, 7.70; tail, 9.20, its graduation, 3.50; culmen, 1.76. Female. Wing, 5.80; tail, 6.30. Hab. From Rio Grande of Texas, south through Eastern Mexico; Mazatlan (accidental?) … var. macrurus.

Q. tenuirostris.[48] Culmen scarcely decurved terminally; bill slender. Female with back, nape, and crown very different in color from the wings; abdomen as light as throat.

1. Male. Lustre purplish-violet, inclining to steel-blue on wing and upper tail-coverts. Length, 15.00; wing, 7.00; tail, 8.00, its graduation, 3.00. Female. Crown, nape, and back castaneous-brown; rest of upper parts brownish-black. A distinct superciliary stripe, with the whole lower parts as far as flanks and crissum, deep fulvous-ochraceous, lightest, and inclining to ochraceous-white, on throat and lower part of abdomen; flanks and crissum blackish-brown. Wing, 5.10; tail, 5.35, its graduation, 1.80; culmen, 1.33; greatest depth of bill, .36. Hab. Mexico (central?).

Quiscalus purpureus, Bartr.

THE CROW BLACKBIRD.

Quiscalus purpureus.

Sp. Char. Bill above, about as long as the head, more than twice as high; the commissure moderately sinuated and considerably decurved at tip. Tail a little shorter than the wing, much graduated, the lateral feathers .90 to 1.50 inches shorter. Third quill

longest; first between fourth and fifth. Color black, variously glossed with metallic reflections of bronze, purple, violet, blue, and green. Female similar, but smaller and duller, with perhaps more green on the head. Length, 13.00; wing, 6.00; bill above, 1.25.

Hab. From Atlantic to the high Central Plains.

Of the Crow Blackbird of the United States, three well-marked races are now distinguished in the species: one, the common form of the Atlantic States; another occurring in the Mississippi Valley, the British Possessions, and the New England States, and a third on the Peninsula of Florida. The comparative diagnoses of the three will be found on page 809.

Var. purpureus, Bartram.

PURPLE GRAKLE.

Gracula quiscala, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, (ed. 10,) 1758, 109 (Monedula purpurea, Cal.); I, (ed. 12,) 1766, 165.—Gmelin, I, 1788, 397.—Latham, Ind. I, 1790, 191.—Wilson, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 44, pl. xxi, f. 4. Chalcophanes quiscalus, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827 (Gracula).—Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 196. ? ? Oriolus ludovicianus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 387; albino var. ? ? Oriolus niger, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 393. ? Gracula purpurea, Bartram, Travels, 1791, 290. Quiscalus versicolor, Vieillot, Analyse? 1816.—Ib. Nouv. Dict. XXVIII, 1819, 488.—Ib. Gal. Ois. I, 171, pl. cviii.—Bon. Obs. Wils. 1824, No. 45.—Ib. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 45, pl. v.—Ib. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1840, 424.—Sw. F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 485.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 194.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 35; V, 1838, 481 (not the pl. vii.).—Ib. Syn. 1839, 146.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 58 (not the pl. ccxxi.).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 575. Gracula barita, Ord., J. A. N. Sc. I, 1818, 253. “Quiscalus purpureus, Licht.”—Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc., 1866, 403.—Ridgway, Pr. A. N. S. 1869, 133.—Allen, B. E. Fla. 291 (in part). Quiscalus nitens, Licht. Verz. 1823, No. 164. Quiscalus purpuratus, Swainson, Anim. in Menag. 1838, No. 55. Purple Grakle, Pennant, Arctic Zoöl. II.

Sp. Char. Length about 12.50; wing, 5.50; tail, 4.92; culmen, 1.24; tarsus, 1.28. Second quill longest, hardly perceptibly (only .07 of an inch) longer than the first and third, which are equal; projection of primaries beyond secondaries, 1.56; graduation of tail, .92. General appearance glossy black; whole plumage, however, brightly glossed with reddish-violet, bronzed purple, steel-blue, and green; the head and neck with purple prevailing, this being in some individuals more bluish, in others more reddish; where most blue this is purest anteriorly, becoming more violet on the neck. On other portions of the body the blue and violet forming an iridescent zone on each feather, the blue first, the violet terminal; sometimes the head is similarly marked. On the abdomen the blue

generally predominates, on the rump the violet; wings and tail black, with violet reflection, more bluish on the latter; the wing-coverts frequently tipped with steel-blue or violet. Bill, tarsi, and toes pure black; iris sulphur-yellow.

Hab. Atlantic States, north to Nova Scotia, west to the Alleghanies.

Var. purpureus.

This form is more liable to variation than any other, the arrangement of the metallic tints varying with the individual; there is never, however, an approach to the sharp definition and symmetrical pattern of coloration characteristic of the western race.

The female is a little less brilliant than the male, and slightly smaller. The young is entirely uniform slaty-brown, without gloss.

An extreme example of this race (22,526, Washington, D. C.?) is almost wholly of a continuous rich purple, interrupted only on the interscapulars, where, anteriorly, the purple is overlaid by bright green, the feathers with terminal transverse bars of bluish. On the lower parts are scattered areas of a more bluish tint. The purple is richest and of a reddish cast on the neck, passing gradually into a bluish tint toward the bill; on the rump and breast the purple has a somewhat bronzy appearance.

Habits. The common Crow Blackbird of the eastern United States exhibits three well-marked and permanently varying forms, which we present as races. Yet these variations are so well marked and so constant that they almost claim the right to be treated as specifically distinct. We shall consider them by themselves. They are the Purple Grakle, or common Crow Blackbird, Quiscalus purpureus; the Bronzed Grakle, Q. æneus; and the Florida Grakle, Q. aglæus.

The first of these, the well-known Crow Blackbird of the Atlantic States, so far as we are now informed, has an area extending from Northern Florida on the south to Maine, and from the Atlantic to the Alleghanies. Mr. Allen states that the second form is the typical form of New England, but my observations do not confirm his statement. Both the eastern and the western forms occur in Massachusetts, but the purpureus alone seems to be a summer resident, the æneus occurring only in transitu, and, so far as I am now aware, chiefly in the fall.

The Crow Blackbirds visit Massachusetts early in March and remain until the latter part of September, those that are summer residents generally departing before October. They are not abundant in the eastern part of the State, and breed in small communities or by solitary pairs.

In the Central States, especially in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, they are much more abundant, and render themselves conspicuous and dreaded by the farmers through the extent of their depredations on the crops. The evil

deeds of all birds are ever much more noticed and dwelt upon than their beneficial acts. So it is, to an eminent degree, with the Crow Blackbird. Very few seem aware of the vast amount of benefit it confers on the farmer, but all know full well—and are bitterly prejudiced by the knowledge—the extent of the damages this bird causes.

They return to Pennsylvania about the middle of March, in large, loose flocks, at that time frequenting the meadows and ploughed fields, and their food then consists almost wholly of grubs, worms, etc., of which they destroy prodigious numbers. In view of these services, and notwithstanding the havoc they commit on the crops of Indian corn, Wilson states that he should hesitate whether to consider these birds most as friends or as enemies, as they are particularly destructive to almost all the noxious worms, grubs, and caterpillars that infest the farmer’s fields, which, were they to be allowed to multiply unmolested, would soon consume nine tenths of all the productions of his labor, and desolate the country with the miseries of famine.

The depredations committed by these birds are almost wholly upon Indian corn, at different stages. As soon as its blades appear above the ground, after it has been planted, these birds descend upon the fields, pull up the tender plant, and devour the seeds, scattering the green blades around. It is of little use to attempt to drive them away with the gun. They only fly from one part of the field to another. And again, as soon as the tender corn has formed, these flocks, now replenished by the young of the year, once more swarm in the cornfields, tear off the husks, and devour the tender grains. Wilson has seen fields of corn in which more than half the corn was thus ruined.

These birds winter in immense numbers in the lower parts of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, sometimes forming one congregated multitude of several hundred thousands. On one occasion Wilson met, on the banks of the Roanoke, on the 20th of January, one of these prodigious armies of Crow Blackbirds. They rose, he states, from the surrounding fields with a noise like thunder, and, descending on the length of the road before him, they covered it and the fences completely with black. When they again rose, and after a few evolutions descended on the skirts of the high timbered woods, they produced a most singular and striking effect. Whole trees, for a considerable extent, from the top to the lowest branches, seemed as if hung with mourning. Their notes and screaming, he adds, seemed all the while like the distant sounds of a great cataract, but in a more musical cadence.

A writer in the American Naturalist (II. 326), residing in Newark, N. Y., notes the advent of a large number of these birds to his village. Two built their nest inside the spire of a church. Another pair took possession of a martin-house in the narrator’s garden, forcibly expelling the rightful owners. These same birds also attempted to plunder the newly constructed nests of the Robins of their materials. They were, however, successfully resisted, the Robins driving the Blackbirds away in all cases of contest.

The Crow Blackbird nests in various situations, sometimes in low bushes, more frequently in trees, and at various heights. A pair, for several years, had their nest on the top of a high fir-tree, some sixty feet from the ground, standing a few feet from my front door. Though narrowly watched by unfriendly eyes, no one could detect them in any mischief. Not a spear of corn was molested, and their food was exclusively insects, for which they diligently searched, turning over chips, pieces of wood, and loose stones. Their nests are large, coarsely but strongly made of twigs and dry plants, interwoven with strong stems of grasses. When the Fish Hawks build in their neighborhood, Wilson states that it is a frequent occurrence for the Grakles to place their nests in the interstices of those of the former. Sometimes several pairs make use of the same Hawk’s nest at the same time, living in singular amity with its owner. Mr. Audubon speaks of finding these birds generally breeding in the hollows of trees. I have never met with their nests in these situations, but Mr. William Brewster says he has found them nesting in this manner in the northern part of Maine. Both, however, probably refer to the var. æneus.

The eggs of the Grakle exhibit great variations in their ground-color, varying from a light greenish-white to a deep rusty-brown. The former is the more common color. The eggs are marked with large dashes and broad, irregular streaks of black and dark brown, often presenting a singular grotesqueness in their shapes. Eggs with a deep brown ground are usually marked chiefly about the larger end with confluent, cloudy blotches of deeper shades of the same. The eggs measure 1.25 inches by .90.

Var. æneus, Ridgway.

BRONZED GRAKLE.

Quiscalus versicolor, Aud. Orn. Biog. pl. vii; Birds Am. IV pl. ccxxi (figure, but not description).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 555 (western specimens).—Samuels, 352. Quiscalus æneus, Ridgway, Pr. Phil. Acad., June, 1869. 134.

Var. æneus.

Sp. Char. Length, 12.50 to 13.50; wing, 6.00; tail, 6.00; culmen, 1.26; tarsus, 1.32. Third and fourth quills longest and equal; first shorter than fifth; projection of primaries beyond secondaries, 1.28; graduation of tail, 1.48.

Metallic tints rich, deep, and uniform. Head and neck all round rich silky steel-blue, this strictly confined to these portions, and abruptly defined behind, varying in shade from an intense Prussian blue to brassy-greenish, the latter tint always, when present, most apparent on the neck, the head always more violaceous; lores velvety-black. Entire body, above and below, uniform continuous metallic brassy-olive, varying

to burnished golden olivaceous-bronze, becoming gradually uniform metallic purplish or reddish violet on wings and tail, the last more purplish; primaries violet-black; bill, tarsi, and toes pure black; iris sulphur-yellow.

Hab. Mississippi region of United States, east to Alleghany Mountains, west to Fort Bridger; Saskatchewan Region, Hudson’s Bay Territory; Labrador? and Maine (52,382, Calais, Me., G. A. Boardman). More or less abundant in all eastern States north of New Jersey.

This species may be readily distinguished from the Q. purpureus by the color alone, independently of the differences of proportions.

The impression received from a casual notice of a specimen of the Q. purpureus is that of a uniformly glossy black bird, the metallic tints being much broken or irregularly distributed, being frequently, or generally, arranged in successive bands on the feathers over the whole body, producing a peculiar iridescent effect. In the Q. æneus nothing of this character is seen; for, among a very large series of western specimens, not one has the body other than continuous bronze, the head and neck alone being green or blue, and this sharply and abruptly defined against the very different tint of the other portions. These colors, of course, have their extremes of variation, but the change is only in the shade of the metallic tints, the precise pattern being strictly retained. In the present species the colors are more vivid and silky than in the eastern, and the bird is, in fact, a much handsomer one. (Ridgway.)

Just after moulting, the plumage is unusually brilliant, the metallic tints being much more vivid.

Habits. The Bronzed Blackbird has been so recently separated from the purpureus that we cannot give, with exactness or certainty, the area over which it is distributed. It is supposed to occupy the country west of the Alleghanies as far to the southwest as the Rio Grande and Fort Bridger, extending to the Missouri plains on the northwest, to the Saskatchewan in the north, and to Maine and Nova Scotia on the northeast. Subsequent explorations may somewhat modify this supposed area of distribution. It is at least known that this form occurs in Texas, in all the States immediately west of the Alleghanies, and in the New England States, as well as the vicinity of New York City.

In regard to its habits, as differing from those of purpureus, we are without any observations sufficiently distinctive to be of value. It reaches Calais about the first of April, and is a common summer visitant.

In the fall of 1869, about the 10th of October, several weeks after the Quiscali which had been spending the summer with us had disappeared, an unusually large number of these birds, in the bronzed plumage, made their appearance in the place; they seemed to come all together, but kept in smaller companies. One of these flocks spent the day, which was lowering and unpleasant, but not rainy, in my orchard. They kept closely to the ground, and seemed to be busily engaged in searching for insects. They had a single

call-note, not loud, and seemingly one of uneasiness and watchfulness against danger. Yet they were not shy, and permitted a close approach. They remained but a day, and all were gone the following morning. On the day after their departure, we found that quite a number of apples had been bitten into. We had no doubt as to the culprits, though no one saw them in the act.

Audubon’s observations relative to the Crow Blackbird are chiefly made with reference to those seen in Louisiana, where this race is probably the only one found. The only noticeable peculiarity in his account of these birds is his statement that the Blackbirds of that State nest in hollow trees, a manner of breeding now known to be also occasional in the habits of the purpureus. The eggs of this form appear to exhibit apparently even greater variations than do those of the purpureus. One egg, measuring 1.10 inches by .85, has a bright bluish-green ground, plashed and spotted with deep brown markings. Another has a dull gray ground, sparingly marked with light brown; the measurement of this is 1.13 inches by .85. A third has a greenish-white ground, so profusely spotted with a russet-brown that the ground-color is hardly perceptible. It is larger and more nearly spherical, measuring 1.16 inches by .90. A fourth is so entirely covered with blotches, dots, and cloudings of dark cinnamon-brown that the ground can nowhere be traced.

Mr. Gideon Lincecum, of Long Point, Texas, writes, in regard to this species, that, in his neighborhood, they nest in rookeries, often on a large live oak. They build their nests on the top of large limbs. In favorable situations four or five nests can be looked into at once. They are at this time full of song, though never very melodious. The people of Texas shoot them, believing them to be injurious to their crops; but instead of being an injury they are an advantage, they destroy so many worms, grasshoppers, caterpillars, etc. They are migratory, and very gregarious. They all leave Texas in the winter, and the same birds return in the spring to the same nesting-places. They lay five eggs in a nest.

In Southern Illinois, as Mr. Ridgway informs me, these birds are resident throughout the year, though rather rare during the winter months. They breed in the greatest abundance, and are very gregarious in the breeding-season. On a single small island in the Wabash River, covered with tall willows, Mr. Ridgway found over seventy nests at one time. These were placed indifferently on horizontal boughs, in forks, or in excavations,—either natural or made by the large Woodpeckers (Hylotomus),—nests in all these situations being sometimes found in one tree. They prefer the large elms, cottonwoods, and sycamores of the river-bottoms as trees for nesting-places, but select rather thinly wooded situations, as old clearings, etc. In the vicinity of Calais, according to Mr. Boardman, they nest habitually in hollow stubs in marshy borders of brooks or ponds.

Var. aglæus, Baird.

FLORIDA GRAKLE.

Quiscalus baritus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 556, pl. xxxii (not of Linn.). Quiscalus aglæus, Baird, Am. Jour. Sci. 1866, 84.—Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 44.—Ridgway, Pr. A. N. S. 1869, 135. Q. purpureus, Allen, B. E. Fla. 291.

Var. aglæus.

Sp. Char. Length, 10.60; wing, 5.20; tail, 5.12; culmen, 1.40; tarsus, 1.40. Second and third quills equal and longest; first shorter than fourth; projection of primaries beyond secondaries, 1.12; graduation of tail, 1.00.

Bill very slender and elongated, the tip of upper mandible abruptly decurved; commissure very regular.

Metallic tints very dark. Head and neck all round well defined violaceous steel-blue, the head most bluish, the neck more purplish and with a bronzy cast in front; body uniform soft, dull, bronzy greenish-black, scarcely lustrous; wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail blackish steel-blue, the wing-coverts tipped with vivid violet-bronze; belly and crissum glossed with blue.

Hab. South Florida.

This race is quite well marked, though it grades insensibly into the var. purpureus. It differs from both that and æneus in much smaller size, with more slender and more decurved bill.

The arrangement of the colors is much as in the larger western species, while the tints are most like those of the eastern. All the colors are, however, darker, but at the same time softer than in either of the others.

In form this species approaches nearest the western, agreeing with it in the primaries, slender bill, and more graduated tail, and, indeed, its relations in every respect appear to be with this rather than the eastern.

This race was first described from specimens collected at Key Biscayne by Mr. Wurdemann, in April, 1857, and in 1858, and is the smallest of the genus within our limits. The wing and tail each are about an inch shorter than in the other varieties of purpureus. The bill, however, is much longer and more slender, and the tip considerably more produced and decurved. The feet are stouter and much coarser, the pads of the toes very scabrous, as if to assist in holding slippery substances, a feature scarcely seen in purpureus.[49]

Habits. This race or species seems to be confined exclusively to the peninsula of Florida. We have no notes as to any of its peculiarities, nor do we know that it exhibits any differences of manners or habits from those of its more northern relatives.

Of its eggs I have seen but few specimens. These do not exhibit much variation. The ground-color shades from a light drab to one with a greenish tinge. They average 1.17 inches in length by .85 in breadth, are more oblong in shape, and are very strikingly marked with characters in black and dark brown, resembling Arabic and Turkish letters.

Quiscalus major, Vieill.

BOAT-TAILED GRAKLE; JACKDAW.

Gracula barita, Wilson, Index Am. Orn. VI, 1812 (not of Linnæus). Gracula quiscala, Ord. J. A. N. Sc. I, 1818, 253 (not of Linnæus). Quiscalus major, Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. XXVIII, 1819, 487.—Bon. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 35, pl. iv.—Ib. List, 1838.—Ib. Consp. 1850, 424.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 504; V, 1838, 480, pl. clxxxvii, Ib. Syn. 1839, 146.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 52, pl. ccxx.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 555.—Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1867, 409.—Allen, B. E. Fla. 295.—Coues, Ibis, N. S. IV, No. 23, 1870, 367 (Biography). Chalcophanes major, “Temm.” Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 196.

Sp. Char. (1,563.) Form rather lengthened, but robust; bill strong, about the length of head; wing rather long, second and third quills usually longest, though the first four quills are frequently nearly equal; tail long, graduated; lateral feathers about 2.50 inches shorter than the central; legs and feet strong.

Adult male. Black; head and neck with a fine purple lustre, rather abruptly defined on the lower part of the neck behind, and succeeded by a fine green lustre which passes into a purple or steel-blue on the lower back and upper tail-coverts. On the under parts the purple lustre of the head and neck passes more gradually into green on the abdomen; under tail-coverts usually purplish-blue, frequently plain black. Smaller wing-coverts with green lustre; larger coverts greenish-bronze; quills frequently plain black, with a greenish or bronzed edging and slight lustre. Tail usually with a slight bluish or greenish lustre, frequently plain black. Bill and feet black. Iris yellow. Total length about 15 inches; wing, 7.00; tail, 6.50 to 7.00.

PLATE XXXVI.

1. Quiscalus macrourus. ♂ Texas, 3948.

2. Quiscalus macrourus. ♀ Texas, 3949.

3. Quiscalus major. ♀ S. Car., 39005.

4. Quiscalus major. ♂ S. Car., 39003.

Adult female. Smaller. Upper parts dark brown, lighter on the head and neck behind; darker and nearly a dull black on the lower part of the back and upper tail-coverts; under parts lighter, dull yellowish-brown; tibiæ and under tail-coverts darker; wings and tail dull brownish-black; upper parts frequently with a slight greenish lustre. Total length, about 12.50; wing, 5.50 to 6.00; tail, 5.50. (Cassin.)

Hab. Coast region of South Atlantic and Gulf States of North America. Galveston and Houston, Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 494).

Habits. The Boat-tailed Grakle, or Jackdaw, of the Southern States, is found in all the maritime portions of the States that border both on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, from North Carolina to Rio Grande. In Western Texas it does not seem to be abundant. Lieutenant Couch met with only a single specimen at Brownsville, in company with Q. macrurus. Mr. Dresser, when at Houston and at Galveston in May and June, 1864, noticed several of these birds. Mr. Salvin mentions finding them as far south as the Keys of the Belize coast.

We learn from the observations of Mr. Audubon that this species is more particularly attached to the maritime portions of the country. It rarely goes farther inland than forty or fifty miles, following the marshy banks of the larger streams. It occurs in great abundance in the lower portions of Louisiana, though not found so high up the Mississippi as Natchez. It also abounds in the Sea Islands on the coast of the Carolinas, and in the lowlands of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

Dr. Coues states that this species hardly occurs in any abundance north of the Carolinas, and that it is restricted to a narrow belt along the coast of the ocean and gulf, from North Carolina throughout our entire shore to Mexico. He supposed it to stop there, and to be replaced by the macrurus. Though the larger proportion of these birds pass beyond our southern boundaries to spend the winter, a few, chiefly old males, are resident in North Carolina throughout the year. In the spring the females are the first to appear. Just before the mating has taken place, the flocks of these birds are said to execute sudden and unaccountable evolutions, as if guided by some single commanding spirit; now hovering uncertain, then dashing impulsive, now veering in an instant, and at last taking a long, steady flight towards some distant point. During this period, Dr. Coues further informs us, their voices crack, and they utter a curious medley of notes from bass to falsetto, a jingling, unmusical jargon that is indescribable.

The laying-season is said to be at its height during the latter part of April. He found in no instance more than six eggs in a nest, nor less than three. He thinks that they have two, and perhaps three, broods in a season, as he found it not uncommon to meet with newly fledged birds in September.

These birds are eminently gregarious at all seasons of the year, and at certain seasons assemble in large flocks. They are omnivorous, eating both insects and grain, and are alternately benefactors and plunderers of the

planters. In the early season they seek their food among the large salt marshes of the seaboard, and along the muddy banks of creeks and rivers. They do great damage to the rice plantations, both when the grain is in the soft state and afterwards when the ripened grain is stacked. They also feed very largely upon the small crabs called fiddlers, so common in all the mud flats, earthworms, various insects, shrimps, and other aquatic forms of the like character.

A few of these birds are resident throughout the year, though the greater part retire farther south during a portion of the winter. They return in February, in full plumage, when they mate. They resort, by pairs and in companies, to certain favorite breeding-places, where they begin to construct their nests. They do not, however, even in Florida, begin to breed before April. They build a large and clumsy nest, made of very coarse and miscellaneous materials, chiefly sticks and fragments of dry weeds, sedges, and strips of bark, lined with finer stems, fibrous roots, and grasses, and have from three to five eggs.

It is a very singular but well-established characteristic of this species, that no sooner is their nest completed and incubation commenced than the male birds all desert their mates, and, joining one another in flocks, keep apart from the females, feeding by themselves, until they are joined by the young birds and their mothers in the fall.

These facts and this trait of character in this species have been fully confirmed by the observations of Dr. Bachman of Charleston. In 1832 he visited a breeding-locality of these birds. On a single Smilax bush he found more than thirty nests of the Grakles, from three to five feet apart, some of them not more than fifteen inches above the water, and only females were seen about the nests, no males making their appearance. Dr. Bachman also visited colonies of these nests placed upon live-oak trees thirty or forty feet from the ground, and carefully watched the manners of the old birds, but has never found any males in the vicinity of their nests after the eggs had been laid. They always keep at a distance, feeding in flocks in the marshes, leaving the females to take charge of their nests and young. They have but one brood in a season.

As these birds fly, in loose flocks, they continually utter a peculiar cry, which Mr. Audubon states resembles or may be represented by kirrick, crick, crick. Their usual notes are harsh, resembling loud, shrill whistles, and are frequently accompanied with their ordinary cry of crick-crick-cree. In the love-season these notes are said to be more pleasing, and are changed into sounds which Audubon states resemble tirit, tirit, titiri-titiri-titirēē, rising from low to high with great regularity and emphasis. The cry of the young bird, when just able to fly, he compares to the whistling cry of some kind of frogs.

The males are charged by Mr. Audubon with attacking birds of other species, driving them from their nests and sucking their eggs.

Dr. Bryant, who found this species the most common bird in the neighborhood of Lake Monroe, adds that it could be seen at all times running along the edge of the water, almost in the manner of a Sandpiper. They were breeding by hundreds in the reeds near the inlet to the lake. On the 6th of April some of the birds had not commenced laying, though the majority had hatched, and the young of others were almost fledged.

The eggs of this species measure 1.25 inches in length by .92 in breadth. Their ground-color is usually a brownish-drab, in some tinged with olive, in others with green. Over this are distributed various markings, in lines, zigzags, and irregular blotches of brown and black.

Quiscalus major, var. macrurus, Sw.

GREAT-TAILED GRAKLE.

Quiscalus macrourus, Swainson, Anim. in Menag. 2¼ centen. 1838, 299, fig. 51, a.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, pl. lviii.—Ib. Mex. B. II, Birds, 20, pl. xx.—Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1867, 410. Chalcophanes macrurus, Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 196.

Sp. Char. (The largest species of this genus.) Form lengthened but robust, bill strong, longer than the head; wing long, third quill usually longest; tail long, graduated, outer feathers three to five inches shorter than those in the middle; legs and feet strong.

Adult male. Black; head, neck, back, and entire under parts with a fine bluish-purple lustre; lower part of back and the upper tail-coverts, and also the abdomen and under tail-coverts, frequently with green lustre, though in specimens apparently not fully adult those parts are sometimes bluish-brown, inclining to dark steel-blue. Wings and tail with a slight purplish lustre, smaller coverts with bluish-green, and larger coverts with greenish-bronze lustre. Bill and feet black. Iris yellow. Total length, 17.50 to 20.00; wing, about 8.00; tail, 8.00 to 10.50.

Female. Smaller, and generally resembling that of Q. major, but rather darker colored above. Entire upper parts dark brown, nearly black, and with a green lustre on the back; wings and tail dull brownish-black. Under parts light, dull yellowish-brown; paler on the throat, and with a trace of a narrow dark line from each side of the lower mandible. Tibiæ and under tail-coverts dark brown. Total length about 13.00; wing, 6.00; tail, 6.50. (Cassin.)

Hab. Eastern Texas to Panama and Carthagena. Cordova (Scl. 1856, 300); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis. I, 20, eggs); Honduras (Scl. II, 112); Carthagena, N. 9 (Cass. R. A. S., 1860, 138); Costa Rica (Caban. Journ. IX, 1861, 82; Lawr. IV, 104); Nicaragua (Lawr. N. Y. Lyc. VIII, 181); Rio Grande of Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 493, breeds); Vera Cruz (from hot to alpine regions; resident. Sumichrast, M. B. S. I, 553).

Habits. The Great-tailed or Central American Grakle is an abundant species throughout Mexico and Central America, and probably extends to some distance into South America. In Vera Cruz, Sumichrast states it to be one of the few birds that are found in nearly equal abundance throughout the three regions, hot, temperate, and alpine, into which that department is physically divided. It is abundant everywhere throughout that State, and also nests there. In the neighborhood of Cordova and Orizaba it lives in large communities, a single tree being often loaded with the nests.

On the Rio Grande it extends into Texas, and thus qualifies itself for a place within our fauna. A few specimens were procured at Eagle Pass and elsewhere by the Mexican Boundary Survey party. It is more abundant on the western banks of the Rio Grande, especially at Matamoras. Among the MS. notes left by Dr. Kennerly is a part of the memoranda of the late Dr. Berlandier of that place. Under the name of Pica elegans the latter refers to what is evidently this species. He describes it as found in all parts of the Republic of Mexico, where it is known as Uraca, Pajaro negro, and, in Acapulco, Papate. It is found, he adds, abundantly throughout the State of Tamaulipas. It lives upon grain, especially corn, devouring the planted seeds and destroying the crops. It builds its nest in April, laying its eggs in the same month, and the young birds are hatched out by the beginning of May. The nests are large, the edges high, and the cavity correspondingly deep. They are constructed of dry plants and small bits of cloth, which the birds find about the settlements, and the bottom of the nest is plastered with clay, which gives it great firmness. This is covered with grasses and pieces of dry weeds. The eggs are described as large, of a pale leaden-gray or a rusty color, over which are black marks, stripes, lines, and spots without order or regularity. They are generally four in number. The nests are built on the tops of the highest trees, usually the willows or mesquites.

Mr. G. C. Taylor, in his notes on the birds of Honduras, states that he found this Blackbird common, and always to be met with about the villages. It appeared to be polygamous, the males being generally attended by several females. A fine male bird, with his accompanying females, frequented the court-yard of the Railroad House at Comayagua, where Mr. Taylor was staying. They generally sat on the roof of the house, or among the upper branches of some orange-trees that grew in the yard. They had a very peculiar cry, not unlike the noise produced by the sharpening of a saw, but more prolonged.

Mr. Salvin found the bird very abundant in Central America. In one of his papers relative to the birds of that region, he states that this species, in Guatemala, plays the part of the European House Sparrow. It seeks the abode of man, as does that familiar bird, and is generally found frequenting larger towns as well as villages. Stables are its favorite places of resort, where it scratches for its food among the ordure of the horses. It will even perch on the backs of these animals and rid them of their ticks, occasionally picking up stray grains of corn from their mangers. At Duenas he found it breeding in large societies, usually selecting the willows that grow near the lake and the reeds on the banks for its nest. The breeding season extends over some length of time. In May, young birds and fresh eggs may be found in nests in the same trees. On the coast, young birds, nearly capable of flying, were seen in the early part of March. Mr. Salvin adds that the nests are usually made of grass, and placed among upright

branches, the grass being intwined around each twig, to support the structure. The eggs in that region were seldom found to exceed three in number.

Mr. Dresser found the Long-tailed Grakles very common at Matamoras, where they frequented the streets and yards with no signs of fear. They were breeding there in great quantities, building a heavy nest of sticks, lined with roots and grass. They were fond of building in company, and in the yard of the hotel he counted seven nests in one tree. At Eagle Pass, and as far east as the Nueces River, he found them not uncommon, but noticed none farther in the interior of Texas. Their usual note is a loud and not unmelodious whistle. They have also a very peculiar guttural note, which he compares to the sound caused by drawing a stick sharply across the quills of a dried goose-wing.

Captain McCown states that he observed these Blackbirds building in large communities at Fort Brown, Texas. Upon a tree standing near the centre of the parade-ground at that fort, a pair of the birds had built their nest. Just before the young were able to fly, one of them fell to the ground. A boy about ten years old discovered and seized the bird, which resisted stoutly, and uttered loud cries. These soon brought to its rescue a legion of old birds, which vigorously attacked the boy, till he was glad to drop the bird and take to flight. Captain McCown then went and picked up the young bird, when they turned their fury upon him, passing close to his head and uttering their sharp caw. He placed it upon a tree, and there left it, to the evident satisfaction of his assailants. These birds, he adds, have a peculiar cry, something like tearing the dry husk from an ear of corn. From this the soldiers called them corn-huskers. He often saw other and smaller birds building in the same tree. They were very familiar, and would frequently approach to within ten feet of a person.

The eggs measure 1.32 inches in length by .92 of an inch in breadth, and exhibit great variations both in ground-color and in the style and character of their marking. In some the ground-color is of a light grayish-white with a slight tinge of green or blue; in others it is of a light drab, and again many have a deep brownish-drab. The markings are principally of a dark brown, hardly distinguishable from black, distributed in the shape of drops, or broad irregular narrow plashes, or in waving zigzag lines and markings. Intermingled with these deeper and bolder markings are suffused cloud-like colorations of purplish-brown.