io6 Twelve Months With 



fer the deep woods however and seldom in this 

 latitude wander near the habitations of man. 



Cedar-birds nest with us in July, but they have 

 no song, and they no longer go about in small 

 flocks of five to nine birds as they do in the spring, 

 and therefore are not very frequently seen. I have 

 also found the yellow-billed cuckoo nesting as late 

 as the last week of July. 



On the first day of July this year ( 1916) I visited 

 a small lake near Libertyville, 111., for the purpose 

 of observing a colony of yellow-headed blackbirds 

 which had nested there. These beautiful birds 

 were at one time quite plentiful in the area sur- 

 rounding Chicago and especially around Lake 

 Calumet, Indiana, but many of the large marshes 

 which these birds so enjoy have been drained, and 

 the birds are now rather uncommon. I was quite 

 happy therefore to travel some forty miles to pay 

 my respects to the colony at Libertyville. Their 

 nesting season was practically if not quite past; at 

 least I found no nests containing either eggs or 

 young birds, but the brightly colored male birds 

 were more tame than they are during the nesting 

 time, and I enjoyed their raucous, unmusical noise, 

 and their graceful antics in the marsh grass. These 

 blackbirds are more often seen in the fall, in small 

 flocks, on the ground sometimes in company with 

 cowbirds, but during the nesting season they 

 locate in colonies, in their favorite marshes. 



The yellow-head is a beautiful blackbird, and 

 very appropriately named. The whole head, neck, 



