BIRDS. 



169 



one or the other of our guests at the lunch hour was part of a tongue 

 sandwich. 



The nutcrackers' more natural feeding habits are described by Mr. 

 Higginson from Stanton Lake, where he spent the winter. " They 

 were common," he wrote, " on the high ridges and seen frequently at 

 our camp, but never lower down. They were for the most part in 

 flocks of from six to a dozen, sometimes in pairs, but never apparently 

 single. Often during a cold afternoon one Avonld hear their harsh 

 cry and going out of the cabin find a little liunch at work on one of 

 the large fir trees which were near by. TTnlike the jays, they usually 

 began at the top of the trees and worked down to the bottom. If 

 distiu'bed, they would fly off to the nearest dead tree and, sitting on 

 its topmost limbs, utter their opinion of us in very powerful lan- 

 guage." 



Family ICTERIDiE: Blackbirds, etc. 



Sagebrush Cowbied : Molotliruft afcr artemJs'w. — In the horse pas- 

 ture of Many Glaciers 13 cowbirds were seen July 11 walking about 

 among a group of horses, rising and 

 following as they started away. In 

 the wooded creek bottom near bv, a 

 striped female in the top of a dead 

 spruce called loudly until her brown- 

 headed, glossy black mate joined her; 

 Avhen thejr sat looking around while 

 a 3'ellow warbler and a Maryland 

 j^ello-w-throat sang. Were the soi'ry 

 pair, in search of orphanages, taking 

 notes? Here were two small birds 

 in whose nests an extra egg or two 

 might safely be left. Were they waiting for the songsters to go to 

 their nests or merely locating the families before making a detaded 

 inspection of likely bushes ? 



The rope corral at camp where our horses were fed attracted 

 the cowbirds, and when we broke camp one of them followed 

 our pack outfit for more than a mile. At a subsequent camp on 

 Belly Eiver two other cowbirds made themselves at home in the 

 corral, nonchalantly perching on the backs of the horses. By 

 going about among" such a bunch of horses with which there were 

 cowbirds, Mr. Stevenson once succeeded in taming two of the birds so 

 that they would take flies and mosquitoes from his hand. 



Thick-billed Eedwing: Agelaius phmniceuH fortls.—'Neixv the 

 Sherburne Lake flood land I heard what I took to be the o-ka-lee 

 of a redwing on August 4, but none of the birds Avere seen. 



From Biological Survey. 



Fig. 71.— Red-winged blackbird. 



Mr. 



