150 BKEWER'S BLACKBIRD. 



suspending it from the point of an oak-branch, 

 without any attempt whatever at concealment. 

 The nest may frequently be seen dangling like a 

 jelly-bag drying. I have previously given an ac- 

 count of a tree covered with their nests which I 

 saw on the Shasta plains. From five to six eggs 

 are laid in June. I have never seen the oriole 

 north of the Eraser river, and but rarely east of 

 the Cascades. A few stragglers visited our 

 quarters in the Colville valley, which arrived late 

 in May and left early in September, the males 

 usually preceding the females by three or four 

 days. 



BREWER'S BLACKBIRD, OR WESTERN GRACKLE 

 (Scolecophagus cyanocephalns, Cuvier). A rare 

 bird, I should say, in British Columbia. I have 

 seen a few at Vancouver Island, in the yards where 

 cattle are fed, and a small number frequented 

 our mule-camp on the Sumass prairie. East of 

 the Cascades I saw them only at Colville, where a 

 small flock wintered in a settler's cow-yard. 

 They appear to have a great liking to be near 

 animals, arising, I presume, from their finding 

 more food and insects there than elsewhere. 

 They walk between the bullocks' legs, perch on 

 their backs, deftly turning over the hair in search 

 of parasitic pests, which they nip with their forcep- 



