Brewer's Blackbird 317 



In Colorado Brewer's Blackbird is a very common summer resident 

 throughout the plains and mountains, nesting up to about 10,000 feet ; 

 Scott foimd it breeding at Twin Lakes 9,300 feet ; Warren near Crested 

 Butte 9,000 feet ; Carter at Breckenridge, 9,700 feet. It arrives from 

 the south in El Paso co. as early as April 8th, and leaves again towards 

 the end of September, moving up into the mountains as the summer 

 advances, and after breeding wandering up to and above timber line. 

 It is stated by Cooke that some birds winter in the south of the State, 

 and this is confirmed by Mr. Sullivan's observations at Grand Junction 

 (Rockwell). It has been recorded from the following additional 

 localities : Weld co. (Markman), Boulder co. (Henderson), Pueblo 

 (Henshaw & Beckhain), Salida (Frey), Baca co. (Warren), in the 

 plains and foothills ; Estes Park (Kellogg), Bergin Park (Trippe), 

 Buena Vista (Keyser), Gunnison co. (Warren), Fort Garland (Henshaw), 

 Mesa CO., common May 1st to October (Rockwell), St. Juan co. (Drew), 

 La Plata co. (Morrison). 



Habits, — Brewer's Blackbird, like most of the other 

 members of the family, is a highly social bird; it is gener- 

 ally in large flocks, and even in the breeding season 

 small bmiches of six to twelve birds usually nest close 

 to one another. It is a bird of the open country, but 

 is not such a swamp-lover as the Red-shouldered, though 

 usually found near a stream . It is amicable and far from 

 shy, frequenting towns and villages, and picking up 

 grain and refuse. Its call-note is " Tchack, tchack," 

 and it has a song as well. The food consists chiefly 

 of grain, especially oats, which form about 60 per 

 cent, of the food, according to Beal, while insects, more 

 particularly grasshoppers, make up the remainder. The 

 nest is built towards the latter half of May, and fresh 

 eggs can be looked for about the 29th of that month near 

 Denver (Dille 03) ; the nest is as often as not built on the 

 ground, usually under the shelter of a bush, and often 

 in the bank of an irrigation ditch ; sometimes it is placed 

 in shrubs or trees as high as twelve feet from the ground. 

 It is a bulky structure built up of sticks, weeds, reeds, 

 and bark strips, often, though not always, cemented 

 together with mud or manure, and lined internally 



