YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 
497. NXanthocephalus xcanthocephalus. 10 inches. 
Male black, with head and breast bright yellow; 
female more brownish and with head paler and mixed 
with brown. 
These handsome birds are common locally on the 
prairies, frequenting sloughs and extensive marshes and 
borders of lakes. ‘They are very sociable birds and breed 
in large colonies, sometimes composed of thousands of 
birds. 
Notes.—A harsh ‘“chack,” and what is intended for a 
song, consisting of numerous, queer sounding squeaks, 
they being produced during seemingly painful contor- 
tions of the singer. 
Nest.—Of rushes woven around upright canes over 
water, in ponds and sloughs. The nest is placed at from 
tour inches to two feet from the water and is quite deep 
inside. ‘The four to six eggs are grayish, profusely 
specked with pale brown (1.00 x.70). 
Range.—U. S., chiefly west of the Mississippi, north 
to Britisn Columbia and Hudson Bay; winters on south- 
western porder of the U 8. 
