Birds 83 



near the present city of Omaha. It is a large bird, almost en- 

 tirely black except the bright yellow head and breast. Vernon 

 Bailey says: "Noisy at all times, they are doubly so on the breed- 

 ing grounds, where they try to sing, and their hoarse voices come 

 up from the tule borders like the croaking of frogs and creaking 

 of unoiled gates." Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) 

 is one of our commonest birds, often seen about cultivated fields, 

 where it goes in flocks. The male is black with greenish and 

 violet tints, but the female and young are brown. The purplish- 

 black Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is smaller (length seven and one- 

 half inches or less), and has a brown head; the young are much 

 browner. The bill is short and conical, not long as in Euphagus. 

 The Bronzed Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula aeneus) is occasionally 

 seen on the plains and in the foothills during the summer.* The 

 tail is rounded or graduated, instead of being parallel-sided and 

 squared off at the end as in Brewer's Blackbird. The Bobolink 

 (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), with stiff sharply pointed tail feathers, 

 is a much beloved songbird of the Eastern States, but uncommon 

 in Colorado. Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey says it is spreading 

 westward. The Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is 

 very abundant. The male is black, with a scarlet patch, edged 

 below with pale tawny, on the wing-coverts; the female is brown 

 of different shades, conspicuously streaked, with only a little red 

 on the wing-coverts. Although these birds are migratory, they 

 run into a number of races, three of which have been found in 

 Colorado. These are A. p. neutralis (see Univ. of Colo. Studies, 

 vol. VII, p. 139), A. p.fortis, and A. p. arctolegus. Their charac- 

 ters will hardly be appreciated except by a specialist.** Bullock's 

 Oriole (Icterus bullocki of Swainson) was first found in Mexico, 

 but it is abundant in Colorado. It is very like the Baltimore 

 Oriole, which takes its place east of the hundredth meridian. The 

 male, orange and black, with white markings on the wing, is a 

 beautiful object. 



♦Mr. Warren writes that during the last two or three years large flocks have appeared 

 in Colorado Springs in September. 



**A. p. arctolegus is not recognized in the A. O. U. check list, but Oberholser states that it is 

 clearly different from A. p.fortis by the darker coloration of the female; shorter wing and tail, 

 larger bill, and somewhat paler buff of the wing coverts of the male. It is larger than typical 

 A. phoeniceus. 



