Henninger — June Birds of Laramie 231 



I got out to explore a little swampy tract. Wilson's Phala- 

 ropes galore and Red-winged Blackbirds with many nests. 

 All of a sudden back of me a loud " clock." I swung- a-round 

 and there sat a beautiful male Yellow-headed Blackbird. I 

 hastened to watch him and saw him disappear to the east 

 along the big irrigation ditch. Just when I was getting ready 

 to follow him Rev. Wichmann sang out : " A Magpie's nest " 

 and sure enough in a cottonwood tree was the big structure 

 with five young Magpies. What a time we had to photo- 

 graph those little black and white imps and how the old ones 

 came and protested against our actions till a well directed 



" Tlie little black and \Ybite imps." 

 Young Magpies. 



shot caused one to come slowly to the ground mourned by 

 some crows, who had a nest nearby with six young. And 

 then we went after the Yellow-headed Blackbirds down the 

 line. Two small waterpools with tules afforded us at least 

 30 nests with eggs and young and the usual noise. It was a 

 great opportvmity to study the life of this species and you 

 can rest assured that I took advantage of it, altho in the ter- 

 rific wind that was blowing it was quite a task to get good 

 pictures. At last the sun went down and we returned home 

 well satisfied with the observations of the day. 



