ICTERID.E — THE ORIOLES. 207 



head ami neck, which are g-lossoj with purplish-violet. Female much duller, of a light 

 brownish anteriorly; a very lain t superciliary stripe. Length about 10 inches; win" 

 5.30 ; tail, 4.40. 



Hab. High Central Plains to the Pacific; south to Mexico. Pembina. Minn.- S. 

 Illinois (Wabash Co. ; R. Ridgway) ; Matanioras and San Antonio, Texas (breeds ; 

 Dresser, Ibis, 1869, 493); Plateau of Mexico (very abundant, and resident; Sumi- 

 CHRAST, M. B. S. I, 553). 



Autumnal siJeciiuens do nut exhibit tlie ln-otul rusty edges of feathers seen 

 in S. fcrriKjiiuus. 



The females and inuiuTture males differ from tlie adult males in mueh the 

 same points as ^. fcrruffinetis, excerpt tiiat the " rusty " markings are less 

 prominent and more grayish. The differences generally between the two 

 species are very appreciable. Thus, in S. cyaiwc.cphalus, tlie bill, though of 

 the same length, is mucli higlier and broader at the base, as well as mucli 

 less linear in its upper outline ; the point, too, is less decurved. The size is 

 every way larger. The purplish gloss, which iw fcrrugincus 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 riclil}- lustrous and strongly marked 

 green, more distinct than that on the wings and tail of ftrrujineus. In one 

 specimen only, from Santa liosalia, Mexico, is tliere a trace of purple on 

 some of the wing and tail feathers. 



H.A.BITS. Tliis species was first given as a bird of our fauna by Mr. A\i- 

 dubon, in the supplementary pages of the seventli volume of his Birds of 

 America. He met with it on the prairies around Fort Union, at tlie junc- 

 tion of the Yellowstone and the Missouri Eix'ers, and in tlie extensive ravines 

 in that neighborhood, in whicli were found a few dwarfish trees and tall 

 rough weeds or grasses, along the margin of scanty rivulets. In these locali- 

 ties 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 approacli to 

 witliin some fifteen or twenty paces, and uttering a call-note as his party stood 

 watching tlteir movements. Perceiving it to be a species new to him, he 

 procured several specimens. He states that they did not evince tlie pcrtness 

 so usual to liirds of this family, but seemed rather as if dissatisfied witii tlieir 

 abode. On tlie ground their gait was easy and brisk. He heard nothing 

 from tliem of the nature of a song, only a single cluck, not unlike that of tho 

 Kedwing, between whicli birds and the C.fcrricgineus 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 Oc- 

 tober. Tiiey were flying from field to field, and gatliered into the large 

 spruces about the fort, in tlie manner of other Blackbirds when on the point 

 of migrating. 



Mr. Allen found this Blackl)ird, though less an inliabitant of the marshes 

 than tlie Yellow-headed, associating with them in destroying tiie farmers' 



