76 



THE OOLOGIST. 



recorded as nesting in the marshes near 

 Gilroy and Sargents, about thirty-five 

 miles south of Santa Clara, in the ex- 

 treme southern part of the county. 

 The nesting and other habits and eggs 

 of this bird are identical with those of 

 the California Blackbird. What has 

 been written of the California Black- 

 bird will applj' to this bird also. 



510 Brewers Blackbird. [Scole- 

 cophagus cyanocephalus: — This beauti- 

 ful Grackle, usually known as the Tree 

 Blackbird is an abundant resident of 

 this county at all times. He can al- 

 ways be found in the pastures among 

 the sheep and cattle, where he sits 

 contentedly upon the backs of one of 

 these animals, occasionaly pecking a 

 grub or flying to the ground to pick up 

 some worm or other tempting morsel 

 of food.'iln the winter a flock of these 

 birds will follow a plow and catch the 

 earth worms as fast as they are turned 

 up and they also delight to follow a 

 sower in the grain fields and eat the 

 grain. They arc always a sociable bird, 

 several pairs always selecting the same 

 tree for a nesting site. 



They like to build in the neighbor- 

 hood of a house or barn, although I 

 did find several nests in a large weep- 

 ing willow tree in a grain field about 

 one mile from a house. Nest building 

 begins about the 1st. of April, the nest 

 being composed of an outer layer of 

 twigs, straw and rootlets, cemented 

 with mud or manure and almost invar- 

 iably lined with a thick layer of horse- 

 hair. It is usually placed at the top of 

 a large weeping willow tree in a fork 

 about twenty feet above the ground, 

 or in twigs at the end of a drooping 

 limb, although I have found them in 

 evergreens and flowering shrubs in a 

 garden, not higher than five feet. The 

 earliest date at which I have taken 

 eggs is April, 32nd and from this time 

 until well along in June, eggs may be 

 taken. The eggs range from four to 

 six in number, usually four, and in 



color are among the most beautiful of 

 our western birds' eggs, especially for 

 a series, the markings being remark- 

 ably variable. A typical set has a 

 ground color of greenish white, with 

 numerous markings and blotches of 

 brown and black, but I always find a 

 few sets every year which are so heavi- 

 ly marked with dark brown blotches as 

 to give the eggs the appearance of 

 being a solid brown color. Of course 

 there are a great many sets to be found 

 the eggs of which vary between these 

 two extremes, and some of these are 

 very odd and beautiful. 



Although Brewer.-! Blackbird is not a 

 songster in any sense of the word, and 

 sometimes eats the graiu and fruit, 1 

 think he mure than repay.s us for the 

 damage he does by his sociable habits. 

 He is also an independent and some- 

 times a pugnacious fellow. I have 

 often seen one of these birds chase a 

 Western Redtail or Turkey Vulture 

 and peck at them until they vvere glad 

 to take refuge in flight. 



Wm. L. Atkinson, 

 Santa Clara, Cal. 



An Albino Marsh Hawk. 



On the 18th day. of April, 1900, while 

 traveling the public highway one and 

 one-halt miles north of Albion, a bird 

 flew toward me close to the ground 

 that I at once called a hawk but different 

 from anything I had ever seen. Fortu- 

 nately the bird crossed the road very 

 close and I was able to identify it. It 

 was within 100 feet of me and every 

 feather uhowed plainly Its general 

 build, the low flight, and pure white 

 patch at base of tail, left no doubt as to 

 its identity, but the head and neck,all of 

 the back and the wing coverts were of a 

 uniform creamy white instead of the 

 usual brown and rufus pattern. 



Of course I had no gun, so the old 

 bird is probabJy on earth to puzzle some 

 one else. On the 4th, of March last, I 

 secured a fine male Greater Redpoll 

 which so far as I know, has not prev- 

 iously been recorded in Western New 

 York. Its larger size, short, thick beak 

 and wider tail feathers, all serve to dis- 

 tinguish it from the common species. 

 Ernest H. Short, Albion, N. T. 



