30O ICTERID^: I AMERICAN STARLINGS. 



The young make up in flocks as soon as they are 

 fairly on wing, and after this little is heard from the 

 Blackbird excepting the incessant chuck they utter as 

 they scour about. The variety of noises, however, that 

 a Blackbird can and does emit during the height of 

 the season is as extraordinary as is the quality of these 

 ambitious failures to sing correctly ; and the result- 

 ing confusion of the creaking chorus is simply inde- 

 scribable. If one, however, w r ill confine attention to 

 some single performer when at his best, he will occa- 

 sionally hear some melodious notes in the midst of the 

 broken-down score. 



YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 

 XANTHOCEPHALUS ICTEROCEPHALUS (Bp.) Bd. 



Chars. Male : Black, including the lores ; head, neck, and fore 

 breast, yellow; a large white wing-patch. Length, 10.00-11.00 ; 

 extent, 16.50-17.00; wing, about 5.50; tail, 4.50. Female and 

 young : Brownish-black, the yellow restricted or obscured, and 

 little if any white on the wing. Female much smaller than the 

 male. Length, 8.50-9.00, &c. 



Two instances of the exceptional occurrence of this 

 Western bird in Massachusetts have been noted. One 

 specimen was shot in an orchard at Watertown, Oct. 

 15, 1869, by Mr. Frank Sawyer, as recorded by Mr. 

 Allen (Am. Nat., iii, 1870, 636). The same writer 

 also states, on information received from Mr. N. Vick- 

 ary, of Lynn, that two specimens were shot at East- 

 ham, Sept. 10, 1877, by Mr. Loud, of Salem (Bull. 

 Essex Inst., x, 1878, p. 18). 



