YELLOWHEAD (Xanthocephalus 

 xanthocephalus) 



Length, about lo inches. Our only blackbird 

 with a yellow head. 



Range : Confined to western Xorth America. 

 Breeds from southern British Columbia, south- 

 ern Mackenzie, southwestern Keewatin, and 

 northern Minnesota to southern California and 

 Arizona, east to southern Wisconsin. Illinois, 

 and Indiana; winters from southwestern Cali- 

 fornia, southern Arizona, southeastern Texas, 

 and southwestern Louisiana south into Mexico. 



Apparently Nature started out with the in- 

 tention of making an oriole, but decided to 

 make a blackbird instead — and behold the yel- 

 lowhead. He is a sociable chap and nests in 

 great companies in the tule swamps of the 

 west. The yellowhead's voice is harsh and 

 guttural and his vocal efforts have been well 

 characterized as a maximum of earnest effort 

 with a minimum of harmony. Late in mid- 

 simimer when the young are on the wing, old 

 and young betake themselves to the uplands, 

 grain fields, pastures, and corrals, associating 

 as often as not with redwings and Brewer's 

 blackbirds. The yellowhead feeds principally 

 upon insects, grain, and weed seed, and does 

 not attack fruit or garden produce; but it does 

 much good by eating noxious insects and 

 troublesome weeds; where too abundant it is 

 likely to be injurious to grain. 



STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris) 



Length, about 8}/2 inches. General color dark 

 purple or green with reflections ; feathers above 

 tipped with creamy buff, in flight and general 

 appearance unlike any native species. 



Range: .-\t present most numerous near Xew 

 York City. Has spread to Massachusetts, Con- 

 necticut, Xew Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, 

 Virginia, and recently to the District of Co- 

 lumbia ; resident where found, though wander- 

 ing soutliward in winter in search of food. 



The Old World has sent us two bird pests — 

 the English sparrow and the starling. Al- 

 though, up to the present time, we cannot con- 

 vict the starling of having done any great dam- 

 age he has proclivities which make him poten- 

 tially very dangerous. Introduced into Xew 

 York in 1890, the original sixty have nmltiplicd 

 many fold and spread in all directions till now 

 they occupy territory hundreds of miles square, 

 and arc nniltiijlying and spreading faster than 

 ever. On tiie north they have entered Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut, and on the south 

 they have reached Richmond, though only in 

 migration. Even as I write the calls of a tlock 

 of 200 or more can be heard coming from a 

 neighboring park, but as yet the bird has not 

 elected to sununer in the Xational Capital. 

 The starling is a hardy, prolific bird and is also 

 aggressive. Like the English si)arr(iw it asso- 

 ciates in flocks, which is a great advantage in 

 bird disputes. There is little doubt that the 

 effect nf its incre.ise and spread over our coun- 

 try will prove dis.istrnns Id nati\e species, siicli 

 as the bluebirds, crested flycatchers, swallows, 

 wrens, and flickers, all valual)le economic spe- 

 cies, whicli nest in ca\ities as does the st.'irling. 



COWBIRD (Molothrus ater) 



Length, about 8 inches. Male glossy black, 

 head, neck, and breast brown. Female brown- 

 ish gray. 



Range: Breeds from southern British Co- 

 lumbia, southern Mackenzie, and southeastern 

 Canada south to northern California, Xevada, 

 northern Xew Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and 

 Xorth Carolina ; winters from southeastern 

 California and the Ohio and Potomac valleys 

 to the Gulf and to central Mexico. 



Chapman calls the cowbird a villain — but is 

 not the villain in the piece often the most in- 

 teresting character on the stage? Thus our 

 cowbird. short as he is of manners and morals, 

 cannot fail to interest the bird lover. He is 

 full of idiosyncrasies that keep one guessing. 

 Why. for instance, his close association with 

 the peaceful cow? Why his ludicrous attempts 

 to sing, he who has not a thread of music in 

 his whole make-up? How did ]\radame Cow- 

 bird come to lapse from the paths of virtue 

 and, in place of building a nest of her own, 

 foist her eggs and the care of her offspring on 

 smaller and better principled birds to their det- 

 riment? 



CHIMNEY SWIFT (Chaetura pelagica) 



Length, rather less than 5^4 inches. Too well 

 known by its peculiar flight and ha1)its to need 

 describing. 



Range : Known only in eastern X^orth Amer- 

 ica. Breeds from southeastern Saskatcliewan, 

 jManitoba, Quebec, and Xewfoundland south to 

 Gulf coast ; west to Plains from eastern Mon- 

 tana to eastern Texas; winters south of the 

 United States. 



The popular name of this bird, chimney 

 swallow, embodies an error, since the bird not 

 tmly is not a swallow, but is not even distantly 

 related to the swallow family. Unlike the 

 hummingbirds as the chimney swift is in ap- 

 pearance and habits, it is structurally not far 

 removed from them. Like the swallows it is 

 an indefatigable skinuner of the air, and like 

 them it earns a debt of gratitude by destroy- 

 ing vast numbers of our winged enemies, which 

 its unsurpassed powers of flight enable it to 

 capture. Indeed, chimney swifts eat nothing 

 but insects, and no insect that flics is safe from 

 them, unless it be too large for them to swal- 

 low. In June swifts may be seen gathering 

 twigs for nest material. They disdain to pick 

 these up from the ground, but seize the cov- 

 eted twig with their strong feet and break it 

 off from the terminal branch when in full 

 flight. By means of a sticky saliva secreted 

 for the |)urprise the swift glues these twigs to 

 the sides of the chinmev in the form of a shal- 

 low nest. .Mthmigh not generally known, 

 swifts roost in chinuieys .ind cling to the walls 

 by using the sIiarp-i)ointed tail as a prop, as 

 do many woodpeckers in ascending tree-<. .\ny 

 bird lover may secure distinction by solving 

 an ornithological riddle and telling us where 

 our chinmev swifts si)end the winter. They 

 come in spring, they go in fall, and .it present 

 that is .ibout all we know of the matter, save 

 that they do not hibernate in hollow trees, as 

 manv have believed. 



