WESTERN BIRDS Blackbird 



picnic in South Park, Los Angeles. As I told about our 

 common birds, many of them hopped about near the 

 table and picked up crumbs unmindful of our presence, 

 much to the delight of my listeners. Presently some one 

 exclaimed: "Look at that small bird feeding that large 

 one!" and, peeking beneath a bench, I was amazed to 

 see a Song Sparrow feeding a young Cowbird twice her 

 size. The two were about all the afternoon. On July 5th 

 of the same year I found a Song Sparrow mothering a 

 big Cowbird in a neighbor's yard. 



GENUS XANTHOCEPHALUS : YEL- 

 LOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 



Yellow-Headed Blackbird: Xanthocephalus xantho- 

 cephalus. 



FAMILY— BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 



The showiest of the Blackbirds of the United States 

 is found in the great plains of the middle west, extending 

 east to Indiana, north through Minnesota, west to the 

 valleys of the Pacific, and is a rare visitor in the Atlantic 

 States. 



It is a summer resident, only, in most of its breeding 

 range, but winters in southern California and through- 

 out the extreme southern portions of the United States. 

 Often a few of these birds are seen in flocks of the Red- 

 wings. 



Thomas S. Roberts, in Audubon Leaflet 57, has given 

 an excellent account of the habits of these birds, from 

 which I shall take extracts. 



Mr. Roberts says that there is one invariable condi- 

 tion necessary to induce the Yellow-head to establish a 

 summer residence, and that is an abundant and perma- 

 nent water-supply, and associated with this must be 



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