426 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



to the towhee and kingbird, escapes the infliction. (Coues.) An 

 abundant summer resident throughout the whole prairie region; 

 seen at Slave River delta in 1907. (E. T. Seton.) Extremely 

 common throughout the whole of Saskatchewan and dropping their 

 eggs in all kinds of small birds' nests in the summer of 1894. In 

 1895, the prairie was traversed in a westerly direction for 500 miles; 

 in all this distance it was a common object around our camps ; very 

 abundant on all the prairies in the Peace River district in 1903; 

 this species is rare in the mountains, only two males were taken at 

 Canmore, Rocky mountains, in 1891; but it was common at Ed- 

 monton, Alberta, and southward in the foothills to the Crow Nest 

 pass ; two specimens reached Revelstoke in company with a yellow- 

 headed blackbird on May 25tli, 1890, and later in June a number of 

 males were seen along the beach at Deer Park, Arrow lake, Columbia 

 river, B.C.; observed one specimen at Huck's ranch, ChilHwack 

 river, B.C., August i8th, 1901. {Spreadborough.) Abundant sum- 

 mer resident and breeds throughout the region between the forks of 

 the Saskatchewan in company with the blackbird. (Coubeaux.) 

 Two pairs seen at Fort McMurray, at the forks of the Clearwater 

 and Athabaska rivers in lat. 56° 30'. (/. M. Macoun.) This bird 

 arrives in the northwest with the blackbirds and ranges to lat. 60°. 

 (Richardson.) From Vancouver island to Okanagan, B.C. (Fannin.) 

 Tolerably common east of, and a straggler west of, the Coast range. 

 (Brooks.) 



Their nesting habits are such that almost every small bird becomes 

 a foster parent for them except the tyrant flycatcher, which far 

 from being the aggressive bird he is supposed to be is only a success- 

 ful defender. 



CCI. XANTHOCEPHALUS Bonaparte. 1850. 



497. Yellow-headed Blackbird. 



Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (Bonap.) Jordan. 1884. 



One specimen obtained at Nevertalik, Greenland, September 2nd, 

 1820, (Arci. Man.) Taken at Godbout, Quebec, in September, 

 1878. (Dionne.) Accidental at Toronto, Ont. ; one record, a male 

 taken about 1885; this bird is now in my collection. (/. H. Flem- 

 ing.) A note by Mr. Seton on the occurrence of this bird at Toronto 

 was published in The Auk, Vol. II., p. 334. 



