YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD 99 



Winter range. — Winters from Vancouver Island and the adjacent 

 mainland southward, casually north to southern British Columbia. 

 Migrant, in part, in the northeastern portion of its range. 



XANTHOCEPHALUS XANTHOCEPHALUS (Bonaparte) 



Yellow-headed Blackbird 



Plates 6, 7, and 8 



HABITS 



Many years ago I wrote (Bent, 1903) of my first impressions of the 

 showy yellow-headed blackbird in North Dakota: 



Seated in a comfortable buckboard, with two congenial companions, and drawn 

 by a lively pair of unshod bronchos, we had driven for many a mile across the 

 wild, rolling wastes of the boundless prairies, with nothing to guide us but the 

 narrow wagon ruts which marked the section lines and served as the only highways. 

 It was a bright, warm day in June, and way off on the horizon we could see spread 

 out before us what appeared to be a great, marshy lake; it seemed to fade still 

 farther away as we drove on, and our guide explained to us that it was only a 

 mirage, which is of common occurrence there, and that we should not see the 

 slough we were heading for until we were right upon it. 



We came at last to a depression in the prairie, marked by a steep embankment, 

 and there, ten feet below the level of the prairie, lay the great slough spread out 

 before us. Flocks of Ducks, Mallards, Pintails, and Shovellers, rose from the 

 surface when we appeared, and in the open water in the center of the slough, 

 we could, with the aid of a glass, identify Redheads, Canvasbacks and Ruddy 

 Ducks, swimming about in scattered flocks, the white backs of the Canvasbacks 

 glistening in the sunlight, and the sprightly upturned tails of the Ruddies serving 

 to mark them well. A cloud of Blackbirds, Yellowheads and Redwings, arose 

 from the reedy edges of the slough, hundreds of Coots were scurrying in and out 

 among the reeds, a few Ring-billed Gulls and a lot of Black Terns were hovering 

 overhead, and around the shores were numerous Killdeers, Wilson's Phalaropes 

 and other shore birds. The scene was full of life and animation. * * * 



But by far the most abundant birds in the slough were the Yellow-headed 

 Blackbirds, the characteristic bird of every North Dakota slough; they fairly 

 swarmed everywhere, and the constant din of their voices became almost tiresome. 

 The old male birds are strikingly handsome with their bright yellow heads and 

 jet black plumage, offset by the pure white patches in their wings, the duller 

 colors of the females and young males making a pleasing variety. * * * The 

 song most constantly heard, suggests the syllables Oka w6e wee, the first a guttural 

 croak, and the last two notes loud, clear whistles, falling off in tone and pitch, the 

 whole song being given with a decided emphasis and swing. 



Although it was some 50 years ago that I heard it, the rhythmic swing 

 of that impressive chorus still seems to ring in my ears whenever I 

 think of a North Dakota slough and its yellow-headed blackbirds. 



Throughout its wide range in western North America, from Canada 

 to Mexico and from the eastern border of the prairie regions to the 

 Pacific slope, small or very large colonies of yellow-headed blackbirds 



