188 X. ICTEEOCEPHALUS, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 



to their mutual amusement, I should say, for the birds were uever hit, 

 and rather seemed to like the sport. Often, as I sat in my quarters on a 

 bright sunny day, the ligbt would be suddenly obscured, just as by a 

 qiuckly passing cloud, and a rushing noise ensued as the compact flock 

 swirled past the window. They often alighted by hundreds on the roofs 

 of the barracks, almost hiding the shingles, and every i>icket of a long 

 paling fence near by would sometimes be capped by its bird. They were 

 very noisy, chattering from daylight till dark — all the time they could 

 see to fly about. Nobody troubled them much ; but Hawks of ^ arious 

 kinds — the Harrier, the Western lied-breast, and the Lanier — were con- 

 tin nally dashing in among them, with terrible swooping, bringing death 

 to not a few, and dismay everywhere. At this season the sexes kept 

 mostly apart; the flocks of males seemed to largely outnumber the 

 females. Very few of those I shot and examined were in perfect i)lum- 

 age, much of the black being varied with different shades of brown and 

 yellowish, and the white wing-bar being imperfect. In spring the birds 

 resort together to marshy spots, breeding in loose communities. The 

 nests and eggs do not difler appreciably from those of the common 

 Redwing. 



*&>• 



XANTHOCEPHALUS ICTEEOCEPHALUS, (Bp.) Bd. 

 Tellow-Iieaded Blackbird. 



Icterus icIeroccphaJus, Bp., Am. Orn. i, 1835, 27, pi. 3.— Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 17C ; 2el etl. 

 1840, 187. 



Agelcem ictcrocephalus, Cab., Mus. Heiu. i, \^hl, 188. 



Xanthocephalus icterocephalus, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 531 ; Mex. B. Saw. ii, 1859, pt. ii, 18. — 

 Cass., Pr. Phila. Acad. 1886, 11 (several uoar Philadelphia). — Coues, Pi-. Phi la. 

 Acad. 1866, 91 (New Mexico and Arizona). — Dkes.s., Ibis, 1865, 492. — Coues, 

 Am. Nat. v, 1871, 195 (biography).— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 267.— Sxow, B. 

 Kans. (breeding). — Allen, Am. Nat. iii, 1869, 636 (Watertown, Mass.). — Mayn., 

 Gnide, 1870, 122 (same case).— Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 178 (Kan.'^as to 

 Utah).— Allen, Mem. Bost. Soc. i, 1868, 498 (Iowa) ; 518 (Illinois).— Tup.xb., 

 B. E. Pa. 43 (casual).— Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 1870, 465.— Mehu., ihhl. 

 1872, 686.— Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 8.— Aiken. Pr. Bost. Soc. 1872, 202 (Wy- 

 OBiiug).— Coues, Key, 1872, 156, lig. 98.— B. B. & E., N. A. B. ii, 1874. 167, pi. 

 32, f. 9, pi. 33, f. 9. 



Icterus xavthoccphahis, Bp., Jouru. Phila. Acad, v, 1826, 222 ; Syn. 1828, 52.— AuD., Orn. 

 Biog. V, 1839, 6, pi. 388. 



Agelaius ocanthocpx)hahm, Sw. & Rich., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 281 (north to 58°).- Bp., List, 

 1838, 29.— AuD., Syn. 1839, 140.— AuD., B. Am. iv, 1842, 24, pi. 213.— WooDn., 

 Sitgr. Rep. 1853, 80.— Newjj., P. E. R. Rep. vi, 1857, 86.— Heerm., Md. x, 1859, 

 pt. vi, 52.— Maxim., J. f. O. vi, 1858, 261.— Trippe, Pr. Ess. Inst, vi, 1871, 117 

 (Minnesota). 



Afjdalus Jomjlpcs, Sw., Syn. Mex. B. in Philos. Mag. i, 1827, 436, No. 57. 



Icterus pcrspicillatiis, LiciiT., " Mus. Berol." 



Fsarocoliiis pcrspiciUafiis, Wagl., Isis, 1829, 758. 



Xaiithoecpkalus iierspiciHutiis, Bp., Consp. i, 1850, 431. 



Jgckvus jierspicUlattts, REiyn., Ibis, iii, 1861, 7 (Neuortalik, Greenland, Sept. 2, 1820). 



" Icicrtis fraiatits, LiciiT., Isis, 1843, 59.— Reinil, Kroyer's Tidskrift, iv ; Vidensk. 

 Jleddel. for 1853 (1854), 82 (Greenland)." 



Hab. — Western North America. North to the Saskatchewan and Red River {Richard- 

 son). Ea.st regularly to Iowa and Illinois {Alien), and Wisconsin {Coues). Casually to 

 Greenland {Iieiuhnrdi), Pennsylvania {Cassin, Turnbull), and Massachusetts {Allen). 

 West to the Pacilic. South into Mexico. Cape Saint Lucas, Florida (Mus. S. I.). Cuba 

 (Car., J. f. O. vii, 1857, 350). 



List of specimens. 



19367 

 19368 



Devil's Gate... 

 Sweetwater . . . 



May 15, 1860 

 May 17, 18G0 



G. H. Trook. 

 do 



10.75 



17.25 



Lieutenant Warren's Exjyedition.—^^i'iS, near Fort Pierre. 



Later Expeditions.— {iOTS'i , Green River ; 61783-4, 61786-7, Idaho. 



