S. CYANOCEPHALUS, BLUE-HEADED GRACKLE. 199 



in mouutaius) northward, throughout a great part of the British Pos- 

 sessions, from Labrador entirely across to Alaslia. Now, to take an 

 iutennediate point — say Fort Pembina, on the Ked Eiver, the extreme 

 northeast corner of Dakota. Here, in the spring and summer, the 

 Eusty Grackle is not known, while Brewer's Blackbird occurs in great 

 abundance, breeding. In the fall, however, the Eusty Grackle enters 

 Dakota from the north on its migration, and mixes with the other 

 species. I have even found them so associated over three hundred 

 miles further west, on the head-waters of the Mouse Eiver, where they 

 came in September; and for a month the Hocks of Blackbirds about 

 our camps contained both species of Scolecophagus, associating so inti- 

 mately that the same shot would generally drop individuals of both 

 kinds. Their habits at this season are identical, but the specific char- 

 acters are always, so far as 1 know, preserved intact. I have never 

 seen any doubtful specimens of either species. 



Mr. Holden's record of 8. ferrugineus breeding in Wyoming in com- 

 pany with the other species is undoubtedly erroneous; no such associ- 

 ation occurs at this season ; when the two are found together, the indi- 

 viduals of 8. ferrugineus are altogether a different lot, come from the 

 North. The case is by no means unparalleled ; in fact, a great many 

 birtls in migrating take up different lines of migration in tbe spring and 

 fall. This brings species often into association at certain seasons, while 

 never found together at other times ; and it accounts satisfactorily for 

 their abundance, during migration, at one season and scarcity at 

 another. Of this latter fact we have a striking example in the Con- 

 necticut Warbler {Oporornis agilis), a bird so abundant in New England 

 and elsewhere in the East, in the fall, that hundreds have been taken in 

 one season, while it is rarely ever seen in the spring, as at that season 

 it appears to migrate inland, up the Mississippi Valley, being, according 

 to accounts, not uncommon at some points during the vernal migration. 



SCOLECOPHAGUS CYANOCEPHALUS, (Wagl.) Cab. 

 Blue-headed Grackle; Brewer's Blackbird. 



Psarocolim cyanoeeplialus, Wagl., Isis, 1829, 758. 



Scolecophagus cyanoceplmhts, Cab., Mus. Hein. i, 1851, 195. — Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 552. — 

 Heeum., p. R. E. Rep. x, 1859, pt. vi, 53.— Coop. & Suckl., N. H. Wash. 

 Ter. 1860, 209.— Havd., Rep. 1882, 170.— Dress., Ibis, 1865, 403 (Matamoras 

 and San Antonio, breeding). — Cass., Pr. Pbila. Acad. 1866, 413. — COUES, Pr. 

 Pbila. Acad. 1866, 90 (Arizona, resident). — Sumich., Meni. Host. Soc. i, 1859, 

 553 (plateau of Mexico, abundant). — Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 8 (Eastern Kansas). — 

 Stev., U. S. Geo). Surv. Ter. 1870, 465.— Merr., ibid, lr-72, 687.— Aiken, Pr. 

 Bost. Soc. 1872, 203 (Wyoming).— Alucx, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 178.— CouES, 

 Key, 1872, 160.— B. B. & R., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 206, pi. 35, f. 3. 



Scolecophagus mcxicanus, Sw., Two Cent, and a Quarter, 1838, 302, No. 66. — Gray, Gen. 

 ofB.— Bp., Consp. i, 1850, 432.— Newh., P. R. R. Rep. vi, 1857, 86. 



" Icterus ceneas, hiCHr." {Bja.) 



Quismlus breweri, AuD., B. Am. vii, 1843, 345, pi. 492. 



Scolecophagus "ferrugineus," Hold., Pr. Bost. Soc. 1872, 203 (error)(Wyoming, breeding). 



Hab. — United States, from Eastern Kansas and Minnesota to tbe Pacific. South into 

 Mexico. Breeds throughout its United States range. Migratory from extremes t f its 

 range. 



List of specimens. 



Lieutenant B'arren's Expedition, — 5320, Fort Randall, Dakota; 4753-56, Upper Mis- 

 souri River. 



Later Expeditions. — 60-151-57, 60721-36, G1070-73, various Wyoming localities; 61710, 

 61731, Utah; 62272-73, Idaho and Wyoming. 



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