150 ; BREWER’S BLACKBIRD. 
suspending it from the point of an oak-branch, 
without any attempt whatever at concealment. 
The nest may frequently be seen dangling like a 
jelly-bag drying. Ihave previously given an ac- 
count of a tree covered with their nests which I 
saw on the Shasta plains. From five to six eggs 
are laid in June. I have never seen the oriole 
north of the Fraser river, and but rarely east of 
the Cascades. A few stragglers visited our 
quarters in the Colville valley, which arrived late 
in May and left early in September, the males 
usually preceding the females by three or four 
days. 
Brewer’s BLacksirpD, OR WESTERN GRACKLE 
(Scolecophagus cyanocephalus, Cuvier).—A rare 
bird, I should say, in British Columbia. I have 
seen a few at Vancouver Island, in the yards where 
cattle are fed, and a small number frequented 
our mule-camp on the Sumass prairie. East of 
the Cascades I saw them only at Colville, where a 
small flock wintered in a settler’s cow-yard. 
They appear to have a great liking to be near 
animals, arising, I presume, from their finding 
more food and insects there than elsewhere. 
They walk between the bullocks’ legs, perch on 
their backs, deftly turning over the hair in search 
of parasitic pests, which they nip with their forcep- 
