BIRDS. 169 



one or the other of our guests at the hiiich hour was part of a tongue 

 sandwich. 



The nutcrackers' more natural feeding habits arc described by Mr. 

 Higginson from Stanton Lalcc. wIum'c he spent the winter. "They 

 were common," he wrote, "on the high ridges and seen frequently at 

 our camp, but never lower down. They were for the most part in 

 flocks of from six to a dozen, sonu^times in pairs, l)ut never apparently 

 single. Often during a cold afternoon one wouhl hear tlieir harsh 

 cry and going out of the cabin find a little buncli at work on one of 

 the large fir trees which were near by. I^nlilve the jays, they usually 

 began at the top of the trees and worked down to the bottom. If 

 disturbed, they would fly off to the nearest dead tree and, sitting on 

 its topmost limbs, utter their opinion of us in very powerful lan- 

 guage." 



Family ICTERID^: Blackbirds, etc. 



Sagebrush Cowbird : Molothrus afer artenusla'. — In the horse pas- 

 ture of Many Glaciers 13 cowbirds were seen July 11 walking about 

 among a group of horses, rising and 

 following as i\\Qj started awa}'. In 

 the wooded creek bottom near bv, a 

 striped female in the top of a dead 

 spruce called loudly until her brown- 

 headed, glossy black mate joined her; 

 when they sat looking around while 

 a yellow Avarbler and a ]Maryland 



yellow-throat sang. Were the sorry Ik^i^ V/' 7/'^' )//// 



pair, in search of orphanages, taking / ''M / ' 



, ri TT J. n 1 ■ 1 I rom Biologicil S ir\ \ 



notes c Here were two small birds „ _, ^ , . , , 



Fic. i 1 . — Ri'd-winged LlncklniYl. 



in whose nests an extra egg or two 



might safely be left. Were they waiting for the songsters to go to 

 their nests or merely locating the families before making a detailed 

 inspection of likely bushes? 



The rope corral at camp where our horses were fed attracted 

 the cowbirds, and when we broke camp one of thent followed 

 our pack outfit for more than a mile. At a subsequent camp on 

 Belly Eiver two other cowbirds made themselves at home in the 

 corral, nonchalantly perching on the backs of the horses. By 

 going about among such a bunch of horses with which there were 

 cowbirds, Mr. Stevenson once succeeded in taming two of the birds so 

 that they would take flies and mosquitoes from his hand. 



Thick-billed Redwing: Agelaius phceniceus fortis. — Near the 

 Sherburne Lake flood land T heard what I took to be the o-ha-lee 

 of a redwing on August 1. but none of the birds were seen. Mr. 



