48 



THE BREWER BLACKBIRD. 



Im'csIi eggs may Ije taken in the \ akima cmintrx- during ilie hist week 

 in Aprik ami in une case noted, deposition began on April 14th: Init May 

 1st- 1 5th is the nsual rnle there and elsewhere. Five eggs is the common 

 set, but si.x to a clutch is not rare. (}f twenty-eight nests e.xaminecl in 

 Yakima County, May 4, 1906. 

 eleven contained six eggs each ; 

 while, of something over tw(.> 

 hundred seen altogether, two 

 nests containetl se\'en each. 



It is in his notes that the 

 Brewer Blackbird betrays his 

 affinities best of all. The melo- 

 diously scjueaking chatter of 

 mating time is, of course, most 

 like that of the Rusty Black- 

 bird (S. cardliiiiis) . but it lacks 

 the bubbling character. He has 

 then the swelling note of the 

 Crackles |)roper, fff-wecl. the 

 latter part rendered with some- 

 thing of a trill, the former 



Tahcn in Stevens County. Photo by the Author. 



GROUND NEST OF BREWER BLACKBIRU. 



citement of any kind. Knorcr 



has a fine metallic (|ualit\' 



which promptl}' links it to the 



Ke\ring note of the Redwing. Cliiip is the ordinary note of distrust and 



alarm, or of stern inquiry, as when the bird-man is caught fingering the for- 



Ijidden ovals. .\ harsh low rattle, or rolling note, is also used when the 



birds are squabbling among tbemseh-es, or fighting for position. 



Unquestionably this species has graduall}' extended its range within the 

 borders of the State, for the earlier in\-estigators did not regard it as resident 

 on Puget Scjund. It has profited greath' and deser\edly bv the spread of 

 settlement evervwhere, and this is especiall}' true of the more open situations. 

 Not a little it owes, also, to the introduction of cattle: for it is as great a 

 rustler about corrals and stamping grounds as its renegade cousin. the Cowbird. 



