XAN7 HOCEPHA L US ICTER OCEPHA L US. 



435 



distinguish one from nnothcr. Tliesc nests were all placed in slender saplings which bent 

 with every breeze, hence their peculiar form. But what is more singular, is the fact that 

 when the birds built in the hnv shrubs which were so stiff that they could not wave much, 

 the nests were often of the same form as those taken from trees. Indeed one of the deep- 

 est that I ever obtained, T found in the midst of a barberry bush where there was no need 

 of building such an elaborate structure. This certainly looks as if the birds labored with- 

 out reasoning sufficiently, or they would not make themselves unnecessary work. It is 

 extremely probable, however, that habits caused by surrounding circumstances are acquired 

 slowly and when once fixed become difficult to eradicate, being even inherited by the 

 succeeding generations. 



June first I found the Red-wings building on the floating islands in Lake Umbagog, 

 evidently sitting on their eggs which were in a somewhat advanced state of incubation. 

 Thus it will be seen that there is but little over six weeks difference in time of nesting 

 between the birds found in the most Southern portion of the United States and those that 

 occur in the more Northern, which is quite short when we consider the extremes in climate, 

 there being almost perpetual summer on the Florida Keys, while the ice and snow linger 

 in upper New England until the first of May. 



Although the Red- winged Blackbirds appear in New England in early March, when 

 the snow is still in the valleys and on the northern slopes, they leave when the first frosts 

 have whitened the meadows. Then young and old accumulate in vast flocks and move 

 southward. They remain for a short time in Pennsylvania but soon migrate, seeming to 

 prefer the salt marshes of the coast at this season of the year. As winter advances they 

 retre.at inland. 



GENUS IV. XANTHOCEPIIALUS. THE YELLOAV-UEADED r.LACKlilKDS. 



Gen. Cn. Bill, pointed, broad al tip, a link shorter than the head. Upper mandilile, nearly straiyhl. Winya, lonr/er 

 than the tail which is a little rounded. Sternum, not stout, quite similar inform to that of Agclams, e.rceplinff that the cor- 

 aroids arc sometehat shorter. Size, /ari/e. Stomach, muscular. 



Males of this genus are black in color, with yellow heads and with no white markings on the wings. The females are 

 smaller, and duller in color, and they also lack the white markings. 



XANTHOCEPHALUS ICTEROCEPHALUS. 

 Yellow-headed Blackbird. 



Xanthocephalus ictcrocephalus, Baird, Birds N. A., 1858, 531. 



DESbRIPTION. 



Sp. Cn. Form, robust. Size, large. Feet, large and stout. Tongue, ratber thin and homy. Sternum, as given 

 nbore. 



Color. Adult male. Greater portion of body, glossy black. Head, excepting b,and at base of bill, lores, and space 

 around eye which are black, neck, upper Ijreast coming down into a point, and ventral spot, yellow. Greater wing coverts, 

 white, black at tips. Bill and feet, black. 



Adult female. Uniform sooty brown, with the chin and bi-ea.st yellow but jialcr tiiiin in the male. There are traces ol 

 yellow on the sides and top of the head, and superciliary lines of the same color. No white on the wings. Bill, brown. 

 Feet, black. 



Yovnff male. Situilar to the female, but has white on the wings as in the adult, and the colors are somewhat paler, es- 

 pecially the yellow 



Youhg female. Differs from the adult in having superciliary lines of whitisli extending down to the nape, streaks of 

 whitish on the breast, and indications of a median line of the same on the head. There are but few traces of yellow on the 

 breast. 



niRDS OF FLORIDA. 18 



