70 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 7 



231. (495a) Molothrus ater obscurus (Gmelin). Dwarf Cowbird. 



Although no cowbirds are recorded as having been taken in southern Cali- 

 fornia, they have been seen here and the eggs have been frequently collected. 

 Judging from the small size of the eggs, as well as from geographical reasons, 

 it is probable that our cowbird is referable to the above form. J. E. Law saw a 

 female Pacific Yellow-throat (Gcothlypis trichas ariacla) feeding a fully fledged 

 young bird, undoubtedly of this species, near Compton, Los Angeles County, July 

 10, 1910. He was unable to secure the bird as it was lost to sight in the dense 

 willow brush (Condor xii, 1910, 174). J. G. Cooper mentions seeing flocks of 

 cowbirds on the east side of the summit of the Cuyamaca Mountains, San Diego 

 County, at a1x)ut 4500 feet altitude, in the spring of 1862 (Am. Nat. viii, 

 1874, 17). 



H. C. Burt took a cowbird's egg from a nest of the Yellow Warbler, near 

 Santa Paula, Ventura County, June 18, 1904. L. Peyton found an egg in a nest 

 of the Least Vireo, near Sespe, Ventura County, May 17, 1908, and in May, 1911, 

 he found three nests of the Golden Pileolated Warbler, each of which contained 

 one egg of the cowbird. The other southern California nesting records that have 

 come to my attention, are all from Los Angeles County, where it seems to be 

 fairly common, mostly in the willow regions of the lowlands. O. W. Howard 

 has found several eggs of this species, all in nests of other birds, near Long 

 Beach. Antonin Jay found an egg in a nest of the Pacific Yellow-throat, near 

 Artesia, June 9, 1907, and found another in a Traill Flycatcher's nest, near Com]:)- 

 ton, July 10, 1910. He also found several eggs in the latter locality in July, 

 1911. R. M. Perez took an egg with a set of Pacific Yellow-throat's eggs, at 

 Nigger Slough, May 7, 1910 (Condor xii, 1910, 133), and C. B. Linton took an 

 egg with four eggs of the Western Gnatcatcher, in Elysian Park, Los Angeles, 

 June 5, 1905. 



232. (497) Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (BonaparteV Yellow- 

 headed Blackbird. 



Common resident of marsh lands in the lower country, south to San Diego 

 County. Breeds, locally, on inland sloughs and tule-bordered ponds. Irregular 

 in its breeding localities ; may nest commonly in a marsh one year and be entirely 

 absent the next. Scatters out over the lowlands in fall, winter and spring, the 

 adult males generally being seen in bands by themselves, not mixing with the 

 larger flocks which are made up of females and immature birds. Nests mostly 

 in May and early June. I have found large colonies breeding at Nigger Slough, 

 Los Angeles County, at San Jacinto Lake, Riverside County, and at various 

 other localities in southern California. According to A. M. Ingersoll, this bird 

 is seldom seen near San Diego, but probably breeds at Warner's Ranch, about 

 fifty miles from the coast. It was noted in small flocks by W. O. Emerson 

 at Poway, San Diego Countv. in the spring of 1884 (Bull. Cal. Acad. Sci. ii, 

 1887,428). 



233. (498e) Agelaius phoeniceus neutralis Ridgway. San Diego 

 Red-wing. 



Abundant resident of the lowdands. Breeds mostly in the tule marshes, but 



