394 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



August i8th, 1901. {Spreadborough.) Abundant summer resident 

 and breeds throughout the region between the forks of the Sas- 

 katchewan in company with the blackbird. {Coubeaux.) Two 

 pairs seen at Fort McMurray, at the forks of the Clearwater and 

 Athabasca rivers in Lat. 56° 30'. {J. M.Macoun.) From Van- 

 couver Island to Okanagan, B.C. {Fannin.) Tolerably common 

 east of, and a straggler west of, the Coast Range. (Brooks.) This 

 bird arrives in the northwest with the blackbirds and ranges to 

 Lat. 60°. {Richardson.) 



Their nesting habits are such that almost every small bird be- 

 comes a foster parent for them except the tyrant flycatcher, which 

 far from being the aggressive bird he is supposed to be is only a 

 successful defender, 



MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 



Thirteen specimens ; two taken at Ottawa, Ont., in June, 1888, 

 by Prof. Macoun ; two taken at Ottawa in 1890 and i89i,and one 

 at London, Ont., in 1885 by F. A. Saunders ; two at Medicine 

 Hat, Assa., in May, 1894, two at Indian Head, Assa., in May, 

 1892, two at Canmore, Rocky Mountains, in May, 1891, and one 

 at Revelstoke, B.C., in May, 1890, all by Mr. Spreadborough. 



CLXXVII. XANTHOCEPHALUS Bonaparte. 1850. 

 497. Yellow-headed Blackbird. 



Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (Bonap.) Jordan. 1884. 



One specimen obtained at Nevertalik, Greenland, September 

 2nd, 1820. {Arct. Man.) Taken at Godbout, Quebec, in September, 

 1878. {Dionne.) This species has been taken at Toronto a number 

 of times in company with the red-winged blackbird by Mr. WnT 

 Loane. The specimen I examined was taken by that gentleman. 

 {Thompson-Seton in The Auk^ Vol. II., 335.) The specimen above 

 mentioned is now in the possession of Mr. J. H. Fleming, of 

 Toronto. 



In the breeding season the yellow-headed blackbird gathers in 

 colonies in some marshy spot. At Pembina it was breeding in 

 the prairie sloughs with the black terns and red-wings. {Cojies?) 

 A common summer resident of the deeper sloughs of the prairie 

 region ; more plentiful to the southward in Manitoba. {Thomp- 

 son-Seton?} This bird is very numerous in the Northwest Terri- 

 tories and ranges as far north as Lat. 58°, but was not seen east 



