272 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



be exact and scientific, Brewer's blackbirds belong to 

 the genus Icokcophagus, and the grackles to the genus 

 Quiscalus. In the breeding season the western birds 

 remain in the park. That critical period over, in 

 August and September large flocks of them, including 

 young and old, ascend to favorite feeding haunts far 

 above the timber-line, ranging over the slopes of the 

 snowy mountains engirdling their summer home. Then 

 they are in the heyday of blackbird life. Silverspot 

 himself, made famous by Ernest Thompson Seton, did 

 not lead a more romantic and adventurous life, and I 

 hope some day Brewer's blackbird will be honored by 

 a no less effective biography. 



What a to-do they make when you approach their 

 outdoor hatchery ! Yet they are sly and diplomatic. 

 One day I tried my best to find a nest with eggs or 

 bantlings in it, but failed, although, as a slight com- 

 pensation, I succeeded in discovering three nests from 

 which the young had flown. The old birds of both 

 sexes circled overhead, called and pleaded and scolded, 

 and sometimes swooped down quite close to my scalp, 

 always veering off in time to avoid actual collision. A 

 pair of them held choice morsels choice for Brewer's 

 blackbirds in their bills, and I sat down on a tuft of 

 sod and watched them for a couple of hours, hoping 

 they would feed their young in plain sight and divulge 

 their secret to me ; but the sable strategists flitted here 



