KEYES AND WILLIAMS BIRDS OF IOWA. 137 



some of the larger species : brown thrasher, chewink, rose-breasted 

 grosbeak, blue bird, bronzed grackle, etc. As many as six eggs of M. 

 ater have been taken at one time from the nest of a wood thrush. 



Genus XANTHOCEPHALUS Bonaparte. 

 [B 404, R 260, C 319, U 497.] 

 Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (Bonap.). Yellow-headed Black- 

 bird. Summer resident; not common in the eastern portion of the 

 State; abundant in central and northern portions. Arrives the third 

 week in x\pril, and commences breeding about a month later. Ample 

 opportunity for studying the breeding habits of this species is afforded 

 by a large prairie marsh a few miles from Des Moines. A colony of 

 several hundred of these birds has occupied this marsh for a number of 

 seasons past. Long before a single bird is seen the harsh, unpleasant 

 chorus, issuing from the middle of the marsh and heard amidst the 

 notes of thousands of red-wings, proclaims the arrival of the yellow- 

 head. Nidification begins three or four weeks later. The nest is a 

 large, bulky structure, composed chiefly of the dry leaves and small 

 stems of Indian rice (Zizaitia aquatica), and lined with the tops of the 

 same plant; it is loosely woven around the standing rice stems, or 

 often around the growing stems of the bulrush ( Scirpus validus : ), and 

 is placed three or four feet above the water. The eggs are four or five 

 in number, often only three, and occcasionally six. 



Genus AGELAIUS Vieillot. 

 [B 401, R 261, C 316, U 49S.] 

 Agelaius phosniceus (Linn.). Red-winged Blackbird. Summer res- 

 ident; abundant. Arrives about the middle of March and departs 

 about the middle of November. Its arrival is heralded by the appear- 

 ance of a few males, in company with the rusty blackbirds ; a few days 

 later large flocks arrive. In the fall it associates promiscuously with 

 the rusty blackbird and bronzed grackle, together forming flocks of 

 many thousands, which wander about in woodland and corn-fields until 

 the departure for the south. The nest is usually placed in a tuft of 

 sedges a few inches above the water in a marsh; but often situated 

 ten or fifteen feet from the ground, in willows bordering the streams. 

 This species has been taken at Charles City, in December. 



Genus ST URN ELLA Vieillot. 

 [B 406, R 263, C 320, U 50 1. 1 

 Sturnella magna (Linn.). Meadow-lark. Summer resident ; abun- 

 dant, arriving the middle of March. 



[Proo. D. A. N. S., Vol. V]. 18 [November 1, 1888.] 



