68 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 9 



this far north as the writer has never found a Cowbird's egg in any of the hun- 

 dreds of small nests examined during the past twelve years. 



September 14, 1902, I was surprised to see three Cowbirds, apparently a 

 male and two females, alight in a corral near Clovis, where they remained a short 

 time and then suddenly flew away toward the south. I was within less than fit- 

 teen feet of them at the time. 



July 13, 191 1, I was enjoying a ride across the salt grass plains, when at a 

 point south of Caruthers and east of Wheatville, I observed several blackbirds in 

 some scattering straw left by campers in the shade of a large cottonwood tree at 

 the roadside. As blackbirds were common everywhere these birds were given 

 little notice until my attention was arrested by one individual that had a more 

 erect, hurried walk than any of the others. It flew at our near approach and 

 perched on a wire of a fence a few yards away, where I at once saw that it was 

 a Cowbird, but unfortunately I had no means of securing it for m.ore exact 

 identification. 



It may seem unwise to record these birds as the southern form of CoWbird, 

 but the size of all four appeared smaller even than that of female blackbirds 

 (Agelaius). Furthermore obscurus has been reported as far north as Bakers- 

 field (Swarth, Condor, xiii, 191 i, p. 161), so it is not a surprising occurrence 

 that occasional individuals continue northward to Fresno. 



Yellow-heade;d Blackbird. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (Bonaparte). 



This handsome blackbird is of rather common occurrence in the vicinity of 

 Fresno, being somewhat erratic in its appearance. It is often noted during the 

 winter months. The large flocks of Brewer and Bicolored blackbirds sometimes 

 have one or two Yellow-heads among them, and again the big fellows are seen 

 by themselves in flocks of seven or eight birds. 



It is probable that this species occurs more commonly along the west side in 

 the alfalfa fields, but nearly all my records are from the region northeast of the 

 city. September 7, 1905, a flock of seven Yellow-heads flew over, travelling to- 

 ward the south, and September 4, 1906, four were seen flying in the same direc- 

 tion. January 12, 1903, two or three were observed in a large mixed flock, and 

 one individual was noted with some Bicolors on April 2, 1905. 



May 9, 1907, I found a small colony of these birds in a tule swamp east of 

 Clovis, where they seemed quite at home among the many Bicolors that were 

 nesting in the tall, dense growth of tules. I felt certain that I had at last found 

 a breeding colony, but probably the birds were only transients as on a subsequent 

 visit no trace of them could be found. 



May 30, 1912, a colony of Yellow-heads was discovered among the rank 

 tules growing along the roadside near Firebaugh. A number of brilliantly col- 

 ored males sat on the telephone wires and on nearby swaying tule stems, the 

 while going through a series of contortions that were not less amusing than the 

 accompanying strident notes. It all had a meaning though, and was often an- 

 swered in a similar manner by some bird concealed in the tules. Conditions 

 seem favorable in much of that region for the nesting of this species in consider- 

 able numbers. 



Two large tule ponds southwest of Fresno are usually the congregating 

 place, and doubtless the nesting ground also, of a goodly number of these birds 



