84 Bird - Lore 



combines the characteristics of both magna and neglecta that it is difficult not 

 to consider it a connectant between the two. 



In Hf e the two birds may readily be distinguished by the marked difference 

 in the call-notes and songs; but I recall no^^dy of the song of hoopesi by one 

 thoroughly familiar with those of magna ana neglecta. In my notes made at 

 Corpus Christi, Texas (where hoopesi breeds) , long before this bird was described, 

 I record the Meadowlark songs heard as resembling those of magna, but at 

 that time I had never heard the song of neglecta. A study of the songs of Mead- 

 owlarks on our Mexican border by a well-equipped observer would be sure 

 to yield interesting results. 



4. Rio Grande Meadowlark (Sturnella magna hoopesi). In general colora- 

 tion this bird more nearly resembles neglecta than it does magna, but the yellow 

 of the throat does not spread to the sides of the neck, as it does in the first- 

 named form. 



Yellow-headed Blackbird {Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus, Figs. 3, 4). 

 The nestling Yellow-head is quite unlike its parents. The whole head and breast 

 are warm buff, giving the effect of a brown-headed bird; the abdominal region 

 whitish; the back blackish, both more or less fringed with buff; the tail and 

 wings black, the wing-coverts tipped with white. At the post-juvenal molt 

 the tail and wing-quills and primary coverts are retained, while the rest of the 

 plumage is exchanged for a costume which resembles that of the female, but is 

 usually without streaks on the breast, or if streaks are present, they are yellow. 

 This plumage is worn at least until the following May, when there are evidences 

 of molt about the head, and it may not be entirely replaced until the second 

 fall molt, but I have seen no specimens after May 24 which were not in fully 

 adult plumage (Fig. 3) . 



All of the thirteen May birds in immature (first winter) plumage in our 

 collections are from Texas and northern Mexico. It does not seem possible 

 that they could have molted into adult plumage in time to nest in it, and the 

 absence from our large collections of more northern breeding birds in immature 

 dress suggests the possibiUty of such birds remaining in their winter quarters. 



The adult male winter plumage resembles that of the summer, but the 

 crown and nape are more or less obscured with brown. The primary coverts, 

 as in summer, are conspicuously white with black tips. There is also more 

 or less white on the outer greater coverts. 



The female is much alike throughout the year, but in winter plumage all 

 the yellow areas are deeper and the plumage generally is darker. 



