I 7u NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



by destroying tlie swarms of young grasshoppers. On the writer's land the 

 gr:isslio]iiiers had dujKjsitod tlifir eggs by tlie million. As they began to 

 luitch, tiic Yollow-heail.s i'i)und them out, and a linck of almut two hundred 

 atteniled about two acres eacli day, roving ovcjr tlie entire lot as wild 

 pigeons teed, tiie rear ones Hying to the front as the insects were devoured. 



Mr. Clark met with these birds at New Leon, Me-xico. 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 tliese 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 Itio Grande. 



l)r. 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 Hocks. He describes tliem as quite domestic in their habits, prefer- 

 ring the immediate vicinity of tlie houses, often feeding witii the domestic 

 fowls in the yards. 



Dr. Hcermann states tliat these birds collect in Hocks of many tliousands 

 with the species of Ayclaids, and on tlie approach of spring separate into 

 smaller bands, resorting in May to large ma.rshy 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 essen- 

 tially from the nests of the Agelaii in the lightness of tlieir material. Tiie 

 eggs, always four in number, he describes as having a ground of ])ale ashy- 

 green, thickly covered with minute dots of a liglit umber-brown. 



Mr. Nuttall states tliat on the 2d of May, during his western tour, he saw 

 these birds in great abundance, associated with the Cowbird. They kept 

 wliolly on the ground, in companies, the sexes separated by themselves. 

 They were digging into the earth witii their liills in searcli of insects and 

 larv.e. They were very active, straddling about with a qiiaint gait, and now 

 and then wliistling out, with great effort, a cliuckling note, sounding like 

 l-o-lciilc kie-ait. Their music was inferior even to tiie harsh notes of 3f. 

 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. Tlie cavity fiad a diameter of three and a depth of two and 

 a half inches. The base, peripliery, 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 por- 

 tions of these nests were made of finer materials of the same. Tliey were 

 placed in tlie midst of large, overflowed marshes, and were attached to tall 

 flags, usually in the midst of clum])s of the latter, and these were so close 

 in their growth that tlie nests were not easily discovered. They contained, 



