360 BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 



land, and are given to following cattle, clustering about the feet of the 

 herd, presumably to feed on the insects found there. They build no 

 nest, and the females, lacking every moral and maternal instinct, 



leave their companions only long 

 enough to deposit their eggs in the 

 nests of other and smaller birds. I 

 can imagine no sight more strongly 

 suggestive of a thoroughly despicable 

 nature than a female Cowbird sneak- 

 ing through the trees or bushes in 

 search of a victim upon whom to 

 shift the duties of motherhood. 

 FIG. 99. Cowbird. (Natural size.) k The ill-gotten offspring are born 



wih the Cowbird character fully 



developed. They demand by far the greater share of the food, and 

 through gluttony or mere size alone starve or crowd out the rightful 

 occupants of the nest. They accept the attention of their foster-par- 

 ents long after they could care for themselves; and when nothing more 

 is to be gained desert them and join the growing flocks of their kind 

 in the grainfields. 



497. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (Bonap.). YELLOW-HEADED 

 BLACKBIRD. Ad. cf. Head, neck, throat, and breast orange-yellow; region 

 before the eye and chin black; outer wing-coverts white, rest of the plumage 

 black. Ad. 9. Forehead, line over the eye, sides of the head, throat, and 

 upper breast pale, dirty yellow, more or less mixed with white; lower breast 

 generally more or less marked with white; rest of the plumage grayish 

 brown. L., lO'OO; W., 5'50; T., 4'05; B., '85. 



Range. W. N. Am. Breeds from s. B. C., s. Mackenzie, sw. Keewatin, 

 and n. Minn. s. to s? Calif., Ariz., and Mex., and e. to s. Wise., cen. Iowa, 

 n. Ills., and Ind.; winters from sw. Calif., s. Ariz., and sw. La. s. to Mex.; 

 accidental in Greenland and in various e. localities from Ont. and Que. to 

 S. C., Fla., and Cuba. 



Washington, A. V., one instance, Aug. Cambridge, A. V., one record, 

 Oct. GlenEllyn, A. V., May 21, 1898. SE. Minn., common S. R., Apl. 21. 



Nest, bulky, of coarse reeds, grasses, etc., in marshes. Eggs, 4-5, grayish 

 white, evenly and rather obscurely speckled with pale cinnamon-brow r, 

 I'OO x '72. Date, se. Minn., May 18 (first egg). 



When nesting, the Yellow-head is one of the characters of the quill - 

 reed or tule marshes. Later, he joins others of his kind, forming vast 

 flocks which frequent corn and grain fields or wherever food can be 

 found. 



"If result were commensurate with effort, the Yellow-head would be 

 a world-famed songster; but something besides unbounded ambition 

 and limitless muscular exertion is required to produce music. In vain 

 the Yellow-head expands his lungs and throws out his chest, his wide- 

 spread tail testifying to the earnestness of his endeavor; sound he pro- 

 duces in volume, but surely such a series of strained, harsh calls, whist- 

 ties like escaping steam, grunts, groans and pig-like squeals never before 

 did duty as a song. In his youth he does far better, the note of the youn j. 



