"^ 



BLACK-READED GROSBEAK, 



Habia melanocephala Stejneger. 



Plate XX. Fig. 5. 



IJg^HIS fine bird," says Prof. Robert Ridgway, "was quite abundant in the fertile 

 valleys and lower canons along the entire route, from Sacramento to the 

 Wahsatch and Uintahs. Its range was exactly that of the Lazuli Finch, and it was 

 observed that in the interior both these species reached their upper limit about where 

 the summer range of the Louisiana Tanager commencedj viz, about the middle portions 

 of the canons. It was abundant both at Sacramento and in the valley of the Truckee, 

 in western Nevada, but was nearly restricted in the former locality to the willow 

 thickets, while in the latter it preferred the shrubbery of buffalo-berry and other bushes. 

 At the latter locality it was observed to feed, in May, upon the buds of the grease- wood 

 {Obione confertifolia) , in company with the Louisiana Tanager, Bullock's Oriole, and 

 several other birds. It was also found in the shrubbery along the lower portion of the 

 mountain streams, but was there less numerous than in the river- valleys, while at an 

 altitude of about 7,000 feet it appeared to be entirely absent. It was consequently rare 

 in Parley's Park, where, however, a few pairs' were nesting in the thickets along the 

 streams. It was frequently observed that the male of this species assists in incubation, 

 being, in fact, more often seen on the nest than his mate. This species appears to be 

 a perfect counterpart of the eastern Rose-breasted Grosbeak, its notes especially, in all 

 their variations, being quite the same." 



In his excellent work, "Birds of the North-west," Dr. Elliott Coues gives the 

 following description of the Black-headed Grosbeak and its habits : 



"This interesting w^estem ally and representative of our Rose-breasted Song Gros- 

 beak, is of common and very general occurrence in the middle arid western provinces 

 of the United States. The easternmost instance is, I believe, that recorded by Mr. Allen, 

 who found the bird in middle Kansas, breeding, in June. He saw young birds on the 

 11th, and the eggs of a second brood toward the end of the month. I have not ob- 

 served any references beyond the United States to the northward ; in the other direction 

 the bird appears to extend through Mexico, on the table-lands. Many reside in that 

 country ; others, obeying the -mysterious impulse of migration, enter the United States 

 in April, and become extensively dispersed, as we have just seen, retreating to their 

 warm w^inter-quarters in the fall. In the mountains of Arizona I found it to be an 

 abundant summer resident from the beginning of May until the end of September. It 

 appeared to shun the pine woods, preferring ravines wooded with deciduous trees and 

 upgrown to shrubbery, as well as the thick willow-copses that fringe the mountain 

 streams. Like others of the same beautiful genus, it is a brilliant and enthusiastic 

 vocalist, its song resembling that of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and having much 

 similarity to that of the Baltimore Oriole. Its ordinary chirp, or call-note, strikingly 

 resembles that of Gambel's Plumed Quail — so closely, indeed, that I n^ver could tell 



