ICTERiD.E -THE ORIOLES. iQij 



discover tlunii, except by diliyent searcli, aided by i'liuiiliarity with their 

 luibits. 



In Texas IMr. Dresser met with a tew in the fall, and a<,'ain in A])ril he 

 found tiie ])rairies covers' Mith these l)irds. For about a week vast Hocks 

 remained about the town, alter which they sudiU^nly disa])peared, and no 

 more wen* seen. 



In California, Dr. ('oo[)er states tiiat they winter i'\ large iminbers in the 

 middle districts, some wandering to the Colorado \'alley and to San l)icgo. 

 They nest around Santa IJarbara, and thence northward, and are very abun- 

 dant about Klamath Lake. They associate with the f)ther J!lackl)irds, but 

 always kcr], in He))arate companies. Tliey are very gregari(jus, eve in 

 summer. 



Dr. Cooper states that the only song the male attempts consists of a few 

 hoarse, chuckling notes and comical S(]ueakings, uttered as if it was a great 

 ellort to make any sound at all. 



Dr. Cones .s])eaks of it as less numerous in Arizona than at most other 

 localities where found at all. He sj)eaks of it as a summer resident, but in 

 this 1 think he may have been mistaken. 



In Western Iowa Mr. Allen saw a few, during the first week in -hily, 

 about the grassy ponds near lioonesboro'. lie was l(jld lliat they breed in 

 great numbers, nortli and east of that section, in the meadows of the Skunk 

 River country. He also reports them as breeding in large niimliers in the 

 Calumet marshes of Northern Illinois. 



Sir .loiin Iiichardson found these birds very' numerous in the interior of 

 the fur countries, ranging in summer as far to the nortli as the 58th i)arallel, 

 but not found to the eastward of Lake Winnipeg. They reached the Sas- 

 katchewan by the 2()th of May, in greater numbers than the Kedwings. 



Tlnougii California, as well as in the interior, Mr. Iiidgway found the 

 Yellow-headed I>lackbird a very abundant species, even exceeding in num- 

 bers the A. 2}li<''ii'if<'>'s, occuri-ing in the marshes filled with rushes. This 

 species he found more gregarious than the Kedwing, and fre([uently their 

 nests almost idled the rushes of their breeding-places. Its notes he describes 

 as harsher than tiuj.se of any other bird he is awiuainted witli. Yet they 

 c by no means disagreeable, while frequently their attempts at a song 

 . "■" eally amusing. Tiieir usual note is a deep cliirk, similar to that of 

 nu>.st Ulackbirds, but of a ratiier deeper tone. In its movements upon the 

 ground its giiit is firm and graceful, and it may freciuently be seen walking 

 al)out over tht; gras.sy fiats, in small companies, in a manner similar to the 

 Cow r.lackbird, which, in its movements, it greatly resembles. It nests in 

 the sloughs, anu)ng the (!i/(^, and the inaxinmm nnmber of its eggs is four. 



Mv. W. .1. ^IcLaughlin of ("entralia, Kansas, writes (Anuu'ican Naturalist, 



III, p. 498) that these birds arrive in that region about the first of j\Iay, and 



all disa])])ear ahout the Kith of .Tunc. He does not tliink that any breed 



there. 1) ng their stay they make themselves very valuable tti the farmers 



vol.. n. m 



