BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 289 



son Bay, south across Mexican tablelands and east to Wisconsin, Indiana, 

 and Texas ; casually to Ontario and the eastern United States. 



Nest. — Fastened to tule stems or rushes 10 to 30 inches above the 

 water of a marsh, made of coarse marsh grasses, tules, reeds, and rushes, 

 woven tog-ether and lined with finer grasses. Eggs: o to •";. from grayish 

 to greenish white, profusely and evenly blotched and speckled with 

 browns and grays. 



Food. — Small seeds, such as wild rice, and. in cultivated districts, occa- 

 sionally corn, oats, and wheat ; but mainly insects, especially grasshoppers 

 and locusts, together with their eggs and larvte. 



From their breediuii: grounds in the sloughs and tule marshes the 

 yellow-headed blackbirds scatter out and wander over the whole of 

 the western plains country, appearing in flocks with grackles, red- 

 wings, or cowbirds in the characteristic hordes of the fall migration, 

 or in flocks by themselves in fields and meadows, along the road- 

 sides, often in barnyards and corrals, and sometimes in city streets, 

 flocks with pompous, yellow-caped males strutting about among 

 the dull-colored females and young, talking in harsh, guttural tones. 



Noisy at all times, they are doubly so on the breeding grounds, 

 where they try to sing, and their hoarse voices come up from the 

 tule borders like the croaking of frogs and creaking of unoiled gates. 



As the young are leaving the nests in July, it is not unusual to 

 find flocks of old males away in the hills by themselves, taking a 

 vacation after their arduous duties ; but usually the fall flocks are 

 made up of both sexes and young. Vernon Bailey. 



GEWXrS AGELAIUS. 



General Characters. — Bill shorter than head, stout at base, deeper 

 than broad, higli and flattened on forehead, broadly parting tlie feathers, 

 rapidly tapering to acute point ; wings pointed, tail even or rounded ; 

 claws small, lateral ones scarcely reaching to base of middle one ; sexes 

 different in size. 



KEY TO' ADULT MALES. 



1. Wing with middle coverts black at tips . . . californicus, p. 291. 

 r. Wing with middle coverts huffy, brownish, or white at tips. 

 2. Smaller. 



8. Females lighter, bnffy tints prevailing on upper parts. * Southern 



Arizona and New Mexico sonorieiisis, p. 290. 



o'. Females darker, huffy tints not prevailing on upper parts. 



4. Winter females with little if any rusty on upper parts. Great 

 Hasin district to southern California . . neutralis, p. 291. 

 4'. Winter females with rusty on upper parts. Oregon aud Califor- 

 nia, west of Cascades and ISierra Nevada . tricolor, p. 292. 

 2'. Larger. 



3. Bill relatively shorter and thicker. Manitoba to Mexico. 



fortis, p. 291. 

 3'. Bill relatively longer and more slender. 



4. Wings longer. Northwest coa.st district caurinus, p. 291. 

 4'. Wings shorter. Eastern United States to base of Kocky Moun- 

 tains phoeniceus. p. 290. 



