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job Nehrling on Birds of Southeastern Texas. 



LIST OF BIRDS OBSERVED AT HOUSTON, HARRIS 

 CO., TEXAS, AND IN THE COUNTIES MONT- 

 GOMERY, GALVESTON AND FORD BEND. 



BY H. NEHRLIXG. 

 {^Continued from p. ij.) 



87. Molothrus ater Gray. Cowbird. — Very abundant throughout 

 the \'ear. They come in large flocks into the streets of the city in the 

 winter months to search for food; they also associate at that season with 

 ScolecopJiagiis cyanocephaliis Cab. I have never seen anywhere else such 

 numbers of these birds as here, and in the breeding season most of the 

 nests of our small birds contain eggs of this parasite. 



87a. Molothrvis ater obscurus Ctf«e5. Dwarf Cowbird. — -A com- 

 mon bird during the breeding season. It is smaller than its near relative: 

 and quicker in its motions. Moves usually in flocks of from two to ten. 

 I first observed the bird when it was just leaving the nest of I.anivirco 

 jiavifrons. Bd., and found its &^% in it, besides four of the Vireo's. The 

 egg is smaller and not so thickly sprinkled as that of the common 

 Cowbird. 



88. Xanthocephaliis icterocephalixs Bd. Yellow-headed Black- 

 bird. — Very common in marshy localities from the latter part of October 

 to March and April. I think some remain to breed, as I observed small 

 Aocks during May in the low prairie districts overgrown with reeds and 

 other water plants. The best opportunity I ever had to study the breeding 

 habits of this beautiful but very locally distributed Blackbird was in the 

 Calumet Marshes near Kensington, about eighteen miles south of Chicago, 

 where I discovered in a single day about fifty nests among the reeds. Dur- 

 ing the w'inter months they associate with Molothrus ater. Agelceus phce- 

 niceus. and ScolecopJiagiis cyanocephaliis: many migrate further south, and 

 in cold winters only a few remain near Houston. 



89. Agelaeiis phoeniceus Vieill. Red-wixged Blackbird. — Com- 

 mon in swamps, but not so abundant as I have found these birds to be in 

 Wisconsin and Illinois. May 6, 18S1, I discovered a nest in a somewhat 

 strange position, in a blackberry-bush {Rubus vi'llosns) on the edge of 

 a thicket; there was no swamp within a mile. This was in the northern 

 part of Harris County. Only a few remain to winter, the greater part 

 migrating farther south. 



90. Sturnella magna S-cains. Meadow L.\kk. — Common summer 

 soiourner, and very abundant during winter; inany thousands are killed in 

 the latter season by pot-hunters. During summer the Meadow Lark is 

 strictlva prairie bird, always to be looked for on the open grassy saxannas : 



