YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 



497. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus. 10 inches. 



Male black, with head and breast bright yellow; 

 female more brownish and with head paler and mixed 

 with brown. 



These handsome birds are common locally on the 

 prairies, frequenting sloughs and extensive marshes and 

 borders of lakes. They are very sociable birds and breed 

 in large colonies, sometimes composed of thousands of 

 birds. 



Notes. A harsh "chack," and what is intended for a 

 song, consisting of numerous, queer sounding squeaks, 

 they being produced during seemingly painful contor- 

 tions of the singer. 



Nest. Of rushes woven around upright canes over 

 water, in ponds and sloughs. The nest is placed at from 

 tour inches to two feet from the water and is quite deep 

 inside. The four to six eggs are grayish, profusely 

 specked with pale brown (l.OOx.70). 



Rang-e. U. S., chiefly west of the Mississippi, north 

 to British Columbia and Hudson Bay; winters on south- 

 western border of the U S. 



