BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 289 



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

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



Nest. — Fastened to tale stems or rushes 10 to 80 inches above the 

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

 woven toj^ether and lined with finer grasses. Eggs : o to ■). from g-rayish 

 to greenish white, profusely and evenly blotched and speckled with 

 browns and grays. 



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

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

 and locusts, together with their eggs and larv*. 



From their breeding grounds in the sloughs and tule marshes the 

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

 the western plains countr}-, 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. 

 rtf)cks 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. 



GENUS AGELAIUS. 



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

 than broad, high and flattened on forehead, broadly parting tlie featliers, 

 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. 



KKY TO ADULT MALES. 



1. Wing with nnddle coverts black at tips . . . californicus, p. 2U1. 

 r. Wing with middle coverts bulfv, bnnvnish, or white at tips. 

 2. Smaller. 



o. Females lighter, linffy tints i)revailing on uj)per parts. Southern 



Arizona and Xi'w Mexico sonorieiisis, j). 2'.»0. 



•J . Females darker, butVy tints not prevailing on upper parts. 



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

 Hasin district to soutliern California . . lieutralis, p. I'Ol. 

 4 . \Vinter females with rusty on upper parts. Oregon ;ind Califor- 

 nia, west of Cascades and Sierra Nevada tricolor, p. 2'.I2. 

 •1 . Larger. 



;!. Bill relativelv shorter an<l thicker. Manitoba to Mexic<». 



fortis, p. JDt. 

 .'>'. Bill relatively longer and more .sleinler. 



4. Wing-s longer. Northwest coast district caurinus, p. 201. 



4'. Wings short. 'r. K.isKmii Cnited States to l)ase »tf IJocky Moun- 



t-ii"s phoeniceua, p. 2l>0. 



