282 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



monly about Big Plain and Winnipeg, building the nest on the ground 

 of hair and fibres, much like that of a Savanna Sparrow on a large 

 scale, and not necessarily near water. 



A nest was found June 24 near St. John, N. B., by James W. 

 Banks ; it contained two young and two eggs. The nest was placed 

 in the upper branches of a spruce, twenty-eight feet from the ground. 

 It was bulky and large for the size of the bird, composed chiefly of 

 honeysuckle vines and mixed with mud, forming a solid mass. The 

 smaller of the two eggs measured 1.09X.76. The eggs are described 

 as varying from a grayish to a light green, very thickly covered with 

 blotches and dottings of purplish and reddish-brown, without streaks 

 and lines ; usually four in number, varying much in the character 

 of their markings. The variations are as great as are those in the eggs 

 of the next species. The number laid is said to range from four to 

 seven with an average size of i.oox.76. 



510. Scolecophagus cyanocephalus (Wagl.) [274.J 



Brewer's Blackbird. 



Hab. Western North America, from the Great Plains to the Pacific, north to the Saslcatchewan, south 

 to the table-lands of Mexico. 



The Blue-headed Grackle is an abundant species throughout the 

 West, breeding in all suitable localities. In California it breeds in im- 

 mense colonies. Mr. Shields states that in Ivos Angeles county it be- 

 gins nesting about May i. The usual number of eggs laid is five, 

 sometimes six, and even eight. 



The nest is built in any suitable place — in the fork of a large bush 

 or live-oak tree and in garden evergreens, at a height of twenty or 

 thirty feet. It is large and bulky, and constructed externally of a 

 rough frame of twigs, with a layer of mud, lined with fine root- 

 lets, grasses, horse and cow hairs. As many as a dozen nests have 

 been found in a single cypress tree. All the nests found by Mr. Bry- 

 ant near Carson, Nevada, were upon the ground, usually on the edge 

 of a bank formed by an irrigating ditch, with the exception of one, 

 which was built two feet from the ground upon dry tule and well hiddden 

 by the growing stems. In a large series of eggs extreme variations will 

 be found in the shape, color and size. They are of a dull greenish- white 

 or gray, with numerous streaks and blotches of dark brown ; in some the 

 markings are very large and of a lighter shade, in others smaller, but 

 so numerous as to conceal the ground-color. Ten eggs measure: 

 .96X.71; .93X.77; 1.02X.70; 1.01X.76; 1.03X.68; 1.00X.73; 1.05X 

 .75; 1.06 X. 78; 1.07 X. 73; 1.09 X. 73. 



