THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 447 



entirely absent in many others. It is a bird of the prairies, especially such as 

 are covered here and there with lakes, sloughs, and extensive marshes, and 

 avoids the more arid desert tracts, extensive forests, and timber-covered moun- 

 tain ranges, although in Colorado it has been observed in summer at altitudes 

 up to 9,000 feet. 



Besides the numerous localities mentioned in previous works on this sub- 

 ject, Dr. E. A. Mearns, United States Army, found it breeding in large numbers 

 at Mormon Lake, in the Mogollon Mountains in Arizona. Mr. A. W. Anthony 

 reports it as common throughout the summer in southwestern New Mexico. It is 

 exceedingly common in the vicinity of Fort Bidwell, California, among the tules 

 of Goose Lake, and, if possible, still more so along the low, marshy shores of 

 Lakes Malheur and Harney, in southeastern Oregon, where I have seen it in 

 immense numbers and examined many nests. It is likewise very common along 

 the shores of Klamath Lake, and especially in the extensive Klamath marshes. 

 I have also noticed it in different parts of Nevada, Idaho, and Washington, and, 

 in fact, it seems to be generally distributed in favorable localities throughout the 

 entire Northwest, excepting perhaps in the immediate vicinity of the seashore. 

 Along the shores of the numerous lakes in Manitoba and Saskatchewan it seems to 

 be equally common. Mr. R. MacFarlane forwarded a nest and a set of eggs from 

 Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, and a skin from the Hudson Bay Post at Du 

 Brochet, situated at the northern extremity of Reindeer Lake, in about latitude 

 58° 30' and longitude 101° west of Greenwich, where it is said to be a moder- 

 ately common summer resident. This locality marks, as far as is yet known, the 

 most northern point of its range. 



The Yellow-headed Blackbird is eminently sociable in its habits, scarcely 

 ever seen singly, and usually breeds in large colonies. It is apparently, how- 

 ever, not very tolerant toward the other species of Blackbirds which frequent 

 similar localities, and therefore rarely nests near or among' them. Its notes are 

 harsh and rasping, and when a colony of these birds is disturbed on its breeding 

 grounds by an unwelcome intruder, and gives vent to its displeasure, the noise 

 and commotion produced are something startling - . The male, when at ease 

 and clinging to some swaying reed or rice stalk, often indulges in a sort of song, 

 turning and twisting its head in all sorts of unusual positions during this per- 

 formance; but with all these efforts he does not succeed in littering much else 

 than a series of utterly indescribable squeaks. Its ordinary call note is a shrill 

 "chack, chack." 



It usually arrives on its breeding grounds in our Northern States during 

 the first half of April, and correspondingly later farther north. 



The food of the Yellow-headed Blackbird consists of various kinds of small 

 seeds, such as wild rice, etc., and in farming districts it occasionally does some 

 damage to young corn, as well as to corn in the milk, and to oat and wheat fields. 

 This is more than compensated for, however, by the immense number of insects, 

 including their eggs and larvae, which it destroys, especially young locusts and 

 grasshoppers. In the spring and fall flocks of these birds may be seen following 



