396 HISTORY OF THE 



ing to the females, but in all of their amourous actions there 

 appears to be but little rivalry or jealousy a happy family of 

 free-lovers. 



These birds never build a nest, but drop their eggs into the 

 nests of smaller birds; in doing so, do not try to take possession 

 by force, but by stealth, during the absence of the owners, and, 

 as these birds are polygamous, exhibit no conjugal affection or 

 love for their offspring, leaving the labor and care of hatching 

 and rearing their young to their foster parents; and I find by 

 observation that the egg or eggs so dropped are the first to 

 hatch, and, being much the larger and stronger, receive the 

 greater share of food, the rightful little claimants being soon 

 trodden to death or crowded out of their home. 



On account of their manner of laying, we have no way of de- 

 termining the number of eggs laid in a season. As a rule, but 

 one egg is found in a nest, and I think that, with a view to sur- 

 vival, the bird distributes her eggs, and that the extra ones oc- 

 casionally found are the eggs of different Cowbirds. They vary 

 greatly in size, averaging about .85x.63; bluish white, thickly 

 spotted and specked with ashy to reddish brown and occasional 

 splashes of purple; in form, oval. 



GENUS XANTHOCEPHALUS BONAPARTE. 



"Bill conical, the length about twice the height; the outlines nearly straight. 

 Claws all very long; much curved; the inner lateral the longest, reaching be- 

 yond the middle of the middle claw. Tail narrow, nearly even, the outer \vel> 

 scarely widening to the end. Wings long, much longer than the tail; the first 

 quill longest." 



Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (BOXAP.). 



YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 

 PLATE XXV. 



Summer resident; not uncommon; in migration common. 

 Arrive the middle to last of April; begin laying the last of May 

 to first of June; return in September. 



On the first of June, 1885, I found quite a colony building in 

 the giant rushes of the genus Juncus, growing in marshy ponds, 

 near Crooked Creek, in Meade county; and I have, on several 



