368 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Genus XANTHOCEPHALUS Swainson. (Page 365, pi. CI., fig. 3.) 



Species. 



Adult male in summer: Head, neck, and chest yellow, varying in tint from a 

 lemon to an orange (rarely to pinkish saffron) shade; primary coverts and lower 

 greater coverts white; rest of plumage uniform black; length about 10.60-11.10, 

 wing 5.65-5.80, tail 4.50-4.85. Adult male in winter: Similar to summer plumage, 

 but yellow of top of head obscured by brownish tips to the feathers. Adult female : 

 Brownish dusky, the throat and chest dull yellowish, and breast mixed with white ; 

 length about 9.00-10.00, wing 4.40-4.65, tail 3.50-3.70. Young male, first winter : 

 Similar to adult female, but larger and deeper colored. Young (nestling) : General 

 color isabella-brown, lighter beneath ; wings and tail blackish. Nest fastened to 

 upright reeds or similar supjDorts in marshes, composed of dried grass, sedges, reeds, 

 etc. Eggs 2-6, 1.05 X -71, dull white, grayish white, pale grayish brown, or (more 

 rarely) pale grayish green, thickly speckled or sprinkled with umber-brown or 

 olive, occasionally with a few " pen-lines" of black. Hab. Western North America, 

 in marshes, east, regularly, to Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas, and Texas, accidentally 

 to Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Florida. 



497. X. xanthocephalus (Bonap.). Yellow-headed Blackbird. 



Genus AGELAIUS Yieillot. (Page 365, pi. CI., fig. 4.) 



Species. 



Common Characters. — Adult males uniform deep black, ornamented by a patch 

 of bright red covering lesser wing-coverts, the middle coverts (except in A. guber- 

 nator) buffy, ochraeeous, or white, forming a conspicuous band along posterior bor- 

 der of the red patch ; in winter, with uniformity of the black more or less broken 

 by rusty terminal borders to the feathers, especially on back and scapulars, and 

 color of middle coverts more pronounced. Adult females : Above more or less con- 

 spicuously streaked with dusky, and brownish or grajnsh (sometimes mixed with 

 rusty), the wing-feathers with distinct lighter edgings ; a distinct light superciliary 

 stripe, with a dusky one immediately beneath it ; lower parts distinctly sti'iped, or 

 broadly streaked, with dusky and whitish, the chin and throat usually more or less 

 tinged with buffy or pinkish ; in winter, the colors much browner, with more or less 

 of rusty above, and white of lower parts less pure. (In the two Cuban species, the 

 females uniform black, like the males.) Young : Essentially like adult females, but 

 ground-color of lower parts never (?) white, the lighter streaks being some shade 

 of buffy, markings more suffused, and textui'e of plumage different. Nest attached 

 to upright stems of sedges, reeds, etc., or to branches of bushes or small trees, in 

 marshes or swamps, compact, composed chiefly of dried grasses. Eggs 3-5, pale 

 bluish, varying to olive, variously marked with black, brown, and purplish gray, 

 usually in irregular " pen-lines" and blotches. 



