Brewer’s Blackbird 317 
In Colorado Brewer’s Blackbird is a very common summer resident 
throughout the plains and mountains, nesting up to about 10,000 feet ; 
Scott found it breeding at Twin Lakes 9,300 feet ; Warren near Crested 
Butte 9,000 feet ; Carter at Breckenridge, 9,700 feet. It arrives from 
the south in El Paso co. as early as April 8th, and leaves again towards 
the end of September, moving up into the mountains as the summer 
advances, and after breeding wandering up to and above timber line. 
It is stated by Cooke that some birds winter in the south of the State, 
and this is confirmed by Mr. Sullivan’s observations at Grand Junction 
(Rockwell). It has been recorded from the following additional 
localities: Weld co. (Markman), Boulder co. (Henderson), Pueblo 
(Henshaw & Beckham), Salida (Frey), Baca co. (Warren), in the 
plains and foothills; Estes Park (Kellogg), Bergin Park (Trippe), 
Buena Vista (Keyser), Gunnison co. (Warren), Fort Garland (Henshaw), 
Mesa co., common May Ist to October (Rockwell), St. Juan co. (Drew), 
La Plata co. (Morrison). 
Habits.—Brewer’s Blackbird, like most of the other 
members of the family, is a highly social bird; it is gener- 
ally in large flocks, and even in the breeding season 
small bunches of six to twelve birds usually nest close 
to one another. It is a bird of the open country, but 
is not such a swamp-lover as the Red-shouldered, though 
usually found near a stream. It is amicable and far from 
shy, frequenting towns and villages, and picking up 
grain and refuse. Its call-note is “‘ Tchack, tchack,” 
and it has a song as well. The food consists chiefly 
of grain, especially oats, which form about 60 per 
cent. of the food, according to Beal, while insects, more 
particularly grasshoppers, make up the remainder. The 
nest is built towards the latter half of May, and fresh 
eggs can be looked for about the 29th of that month near 
Denver (Dille 03); the nest is as often as not built on the 
ground, usually under the shelter of a bush, and often 
in the bank of an irrigation ditch ; sometimes it is placed 
in shrubs or trees as high as twelve feet from the ground. 
It is a bulky structure built up of sticks, weeds, reeds, 
and bark strips, often, though not always, cemented 
together with mud or manure, and lined internally 
