G70 BIRDS OF SOUTHWESTERN TEXAS. 



near town, but so wild that by uo sort of subterfuge could I get with- 

 iu rauge of tbem. At lieoville, however, they were almost as tame as 

 Brewer's IJlackbirds, associating on the best of terms with them in 

 the streets and about the liouses. Dresser notes it as very common 

 throughout the country. At Boerne, in March, Brown shot a few males 

 out of flocks of obscurus. 



162. Molothrus ater obscurus (C'MEL.). Dwarf Cowbird. 



See remarks under the last species. Brown also found this form at 

 Boerne; he says: "On January 20 I shot the first females that 1 had 

 observed, after which they became common. No males were detected 

 until February 25, but from that time both sexes were found in abun- 

 dance." 



Gouus XANTHOCEPHALUS Boxapaktk. 



163. Xauthocephalus xanthocephalus (Box.vi'.). Yellow-headod Blackbird. 

 Mr. George L. Toppan, of Chicago, informed me that he saw a few 



specimens of the Yellow-headed Blackbird at San Antonio in the spring 

 of 1884: "In the autumn of 1SG3 I shot a couple of this species which 

 were the only specimens that I then saw, but on the 23d April, 18G4, 

 while taking my usual early morning walk outside San Antonio I 

 found the prairie literally covered with these birds. During the ensuing 

 week vast flocks remained near the town, after which they disappeared 

 suddenly nor did I subsequently notice any more" (Dresser). 



Genus AGELAIUS Vieillot. 



164. Agelaius phoeniceus (Linn.). Red-wingod Blackbird. 



At San Antonio this bird was abundant in the timber and marshy 

 vegetation along the river, but during the early part of the winter not a 

 single adult male was seen, but towards the last of February perhaps 

 one-third of those seen were in the red and black plumage. This is in 

 corroboration of Brown's experience with the species at Boerne. He 

 says: "Abundantly represented during the winter, but by females 

 only, so far as my observations went. The males are said by the vil- 

 lagers to occur rarely." The bird also occurs at Corpus Christi. 



Genus STURNELLA Vieillot. 



165. Sturnella magna (Linn.). Meadow Lark. 



Hancock states that "this bird was found to be very abundant in 

 fields" at Corpus Christi. I did not meet with it there at all, or at any 

 other place in Texas. All of the birds shot "at Corpus Christi were typ- 

 ical neglecta, and it is remarkable that 1 should have overlooked magna. 

 I think it likely that Hancock is mistaken in pronouncing it abundant 

 there; his note should doubtless apply to the western race, only one of 

 Avhich he took there. It is in neither of the xiapers of Dresser or of 

 Brown. 



