206 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Mr. Dall states that these Blackbirds arrive at Nulato about May 20, where 

 they are tolerably abundant and very tame. They breed later than some 

 other birds, and had not begun to lay before he left, the last of May. Eggs 

 were procured at Fort Yukon by Mr. Lockhart, and at Sitka by Mr. Bischoff. 



Besides these localities, this bird was found breeding in the Barren Grounds 

 of Anderson Ptiver in 69° north latitude, on the Arctic coast at Fort Kenai, 

 by Mr. Bischoff, and at Fort Simpson, Fort Rae, and Peel River. It has 

 been found breeding at Calais by Mr. Boardman, and at Halifax by Mr. 

 W. G. Winton. 



Eggs sent from Fort Yukon, near the mouth of the I'oroupine River, by 

 Mr. S. Jones, are of a rounded-oval shape, measuring 1.03 inches in length 

 by. 75 in breadth. In size, shape, ground-color, and color of their markings, 

 they are hardly distinguishable from some eggs of Brewer's Blackbird, thougli 

 generally different. All I have seen from Fort Yukon have a ground-color 

 of very light green, very thickly covered with blotches and finer dottings of 

 a mixture of ferruginous and purplish-brown. In some the blotches are 

 larger and fewer than in others, and in all these tlie purple shading predom- 

 inates. One egg, more nearly spherical than the rest, measures .98 by .82. 

 None have any waving lines, as in all other Blackljird's eggs. Two from 

 near Calais, Me., measure 1.02 by .75 of an inch, have a ground of light 

 green, only sparingly blotched witli shades of purplish-brown, varying from 

 light to very dark hues, but with no traces of lines or marbling. 



According to Mr. Boardman, these birds are found during the summer 

 months about Calais, but they are not common. Only a few remain of 

 those that come in large flocks in the early spring. Tliey pass along about 

 the last of April, the greater proportions only tarrying a short time ; but in 

 the fall they stay from five to eight weeks. They nest in the same places 

 with the Redwing Blackbirds, and their nests are very much alike. In early 

 summer they have a very pretty note, which is never heard in the fall. 



Scolecophagus cyanocephalus, Cab. 



BREWER'S BLACKBIRD. 



Psarocolius cyanocej^halus, Wagleii, Lsis, 1829, 758. Scolecoj)lmgus ajanocepJuilus, Cabanis, 

 Mus. Hein. 1851, 193. — Baikd, Birds N. Am. 1858, 552. — Cass. P. A. N. S. 1866, 

 413. — Heehm. X, S, 53. —Cooper & Suckley, 209. — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 

 278. Scolecophagus mexicanus, SwAixsoN, Anim. in Men. 2^ cent. 1838, 302. — Bon. 

 Conspectus, 1850, 423. — Neavberry, Zool. Cal. and Or. Route ; Rep. P. R. R. Surv. 

 VI, IV, 1857, 86. Quiscalus breweri, AuD. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 345, pi. ccccxcii. 



Sp. Char. Bill stout, quiscaline, the commissure scarcely sinuated ; shorter than the 

 head and the hind toe ; the height nearly half length of culmen. Wing nearly an inch 

 longer than the tail ; the second quill longest ; the first about equal to the third. Tail 

 rounded and moderately graduated ; the lateral feathers about .35 of an inch shorter- 

 General color of male black, with lustrous green reflections everywhere except on the 



