6o 



THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 



n\-ercomes you. and ynu retire, not without a chastened sense of privilege that 

 yiiu ha\e lived In hear the Yelluw-head pop the question, — "and also you 

 li\ed after." 



The expiring Romeo cry is quite the finest of the Xanthocephaline reper- 

 tory, but there are others not devoid of interest. OL'-ch-ah-oli-oo is a musical 

 series of startling brilliancy, comparable in a degree to the yodelling of a street 



m-chin, — a succession of sounds of varying 

 latches, ])roduced as tho by altering the oral 

 capacity. It ma\- Ije noted thus : f i 



The last note is especially mellow y'w n^ 

 and ]ileasing, recalling tO' some 

 ears the li(|uifl gurgle of the Bobolink, to 

 which, of ciiurse, our Ijird is distincth' related. 

 Alternating with the last named, and more 

 frequenth' heard from the (le]ilhs of the 

 nesting swamp is gitr. giini; or, as oftenest, 

 yc'-ici(iik). ycK'i(iik). giir-giivyl. In this 

 phrase the giirrl is drawn out with comical 

 effect, as tho the gallant were down on his 

 knees tjefore some un\-ielding maiden. 



The Yell(w-head's ordinary note of dis- 

 trust, equivalent to the clink note of the Red- 

 A\ing, is kliiclc or koliick'. In flight this 

 becomes almost invariably oo'khik, oo'khtk. 

 At rest, again, this is sometimes prolonged 

 into a thrilling passage of resonant "1" notes, probably remonstratory in 

 character. The alarm cry is built upon the same basis, and is uttered with 

 exceeding vehemence, klookoloy. klookoloy, klook ooooo. 



Finally, if one may presume to speak finally of so \-ersatile a genius, 

 the_\- have a harsh, rasping note very simil;n- in qualit\- to the scolding note 

 O'f the Steller Jay, only lighter in weight and a little higher in pitch. This 

 is the note of fierce altercation, or the distress cry in imminent danger. 

 The last time 1 heard it was in the rank herliage bordering upon a shallow 

 lake in Douglas County. I rushed in to find a big blow-snake coiling just 

 below a nestful of young liirds, while the agonized parents and sympathetic 

 neighbors hovered over the spot crying piteouslv. To stamii upon the reptile 

 was but the work of a moment ; and when I dropped the limp opiiidian upon 

 the bare groiuid, all the blackbird population gathered about the carcass, 

 shuddering but exultant, and — perhaps it was only fancy — grateful too. 



For all the Yellow-head is so decided in utterance, in disposition he 

 is somewhat phlegmatic, the male bird especially lacking the vivacity which 

 characterizes the agile Brewer Blackbird. Except when hungry, or im- 



Pltoto bv the Author 

 MALE VErx'ow HE.VD. 



