MEADOWLARKS AND BLACKBIRDS: Family Ictcridae [519] 



September. The bird is present through the winter in small flocks com- 

 posed mostly of males. 



Albinos or partial albinos are comparatively common. The latter often 

 present most curious combinations of albinism and normal plumage, 

 some of them being piebald white, others having the wings or the tail, 

 sometimes both, partially or entirely white. 



The nests, built either on the ground (Plate 89, B) or in low bushes, 

 are bulky affairs resembling somewhat the nests of some of the jays. Our 

 own and other notes, covering a great many nests, reveal completed sets 

 of eggs from May i to June 14, though we have one record of a nest con- 

 taining newly hatched young as late as July 17. Two broods are fre- 

 quently raised, the first small flocks of fledglings appearing in most 

 sections of the State during the last ten days of May. These flocks grad- 

 ually unite to form larger flocks until the species becomes a conspicuous 

 element in the great blackbird swarms. In western Oregon, it is fre- 

 quently associated with the Red-winged Blackbirds, although mixed 

 flocks remain comparatively small. 



Nevada Cowbird: 



Molothrus ater artemisiae Grinnell 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: Head, neck, and chest uniform brown; rest of plumage 

 glossy black with green and purple reflections. Adult female: smaller than male, 

 streaked brownish gray, darker above, lighter on throat. Young male: upper parts 

 dull grayish brown or dark brown, feathers bordered with pale buffy or grayish 

 brown and whitish; under parts broadly streaked with brownish, dull buffy, or 

 whitish. Young female: like young male, but paler, under parts mainly dull buffy, 

 streaked with grayish brown." (Bailey) Si%e: Length (skins) 7-8, wing 3.81- 

 4.61, tail 1.56-3.13, bill .59-. 77. Nest: None, eggs laid in nests of smaller birds. 

 Eggs: White, the entire surface more or less covered with brownish specks and 

 blotches. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from British Columbia, Mackenzie, and Manitoba 

 south to southern Nevada, Utah, and Colorado and east to Dakotas and Minnesota. 

 Winters south to Mexico and Texas. In Oregon: In eastern Oregon, widely dis- 

 tributed but not common summer resident, noted in most counties but most abundant 

 in Harney and Malheur. In western Oregon, rare straggler reported from Lincoln 

 and western Lane Counties. 



THE NEVADA COWBIRD cannot be considered a common species anywhere 

 in Oregon. It is most often seen in the valleys of the big counties of the 

 southeastern part of the State, where it frequents the open pasture and 

 hay lands of the valley floor, mingling with the livestock and associating 

 with Brewer's Blackbirds or Red-wings. In addition to Lake, Harney, 

 Klamath, and Malheur Counties, from which we have numerous records, 

 it has been noted from Wallowa, Union, Sherman, Wasco, Baker, Wheeler, 

 and Umatilla Counties. It arrives about the first of May (earliest date, 



