208 BLACK-HBADED GROSBEAK. 



which of the two I was about to see, both species often being found together in the 

 creek bottoms. It feeds at times extensively upon willow buds, and similar soft, 

 succulent vegetable matter ; also upon seeds and berries, in their season, and upon various 

 insects. Mr. Allen has noted its fondness for peas, causing it to be ungraciously regarded 

 by the agriculturists of Utah. 



"According to Dr, Cooper, a nest 'found May 12, at the eastern base of the Coast 

 Range," was built on a low, horizontal branch of an alder, consisting of a few sticks 

 and weeds, very loosely put together, and with a lining of roots and grasses. The eggs 

 were only three, pale bluish-white, thickly spotted with brown, densely so near the large 

 end; size, 0.95 by 0.70.' Dr. Heermann's account of the nidification is substantially 

 correspondent, except as to the situation of the nest, which, he says^ is 'formed with 

 little care of twigs very loosely thrown together, and lined with roots ; it is placed on 

 the branches of a bush. The eggs, four in number, are greenish-blue, marked with 

 irregular spots of umber-brown, varying in intensity of shade.' In nearly a dozen 

 specimens, T can find no reliable differences from the egg of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



"During Mr. Allen's western reconnoissance, the species was first met with at 

 Fort Hays, and afterward at various localities near the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, 

 and in the valleys, up to about 8,000 feet. Its song and breeding habits, according to 

 his observations, agree with, those of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and the nidification is 

 very qimilar. Mr. Merriam, who found the species to be quite numerous among the 

 scrub-oaks at the foot of the Wahsatch Mountains, obtained a nest on the 22nd of 

 July, in T6ton Basin, Idaho. 'It was on a cotton-wood sapling, about five feet above 

 the ground, and was composed of pieces of grass and vines laid carefully together, with 

 their ends sticking out four or five inches; it contained tw^o fresh eggs.' Mr. Trippe 

 writes to me as follows: 



" 'The Black-headed Grosbeak arrives in the lower valleys of Bergen's Park, 

 Colorado, about the 20th of May, and by the 1st of June has become quite numerous 

 throughout the park. It rarely ventures higher than 7,500 feet, however, as it is rare 

 in the valley of Clear Creek, and, indeed; quite uncommon outside of Bergen's Park, but 

 is abundant from there down to the plains. It is the exact counterpart of the Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak in its flight, manner of feeding, and general habits and actions, and 

 its song closely resembles that of the latter bird, but is nevertheless distinguishable. In 

 September it disappears from the upper range in the mountains.' " 



This bird is confined to the Western United States, east to the Great Plains. 



NAMK8: Black-headed Grosbeak, Mountain Grosbeak.— Schwarzkopfiger Kernbeisser (German). 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Guiraca melanocephala Swains. (1827). Coccotbraustes taelanocephala And. (1839). 

 Hedymeles melanocephala Cab. (1851). HABIA MELANOCEPHALA Stejn. (1884). 



DESCRIPTION: "Adult male: Hood, black; the throat, and sometimes postocular stripe (occasionally a 

 stripe on middle of crown also), light cinnamon-ochraceous ; wings and tail, black, varied with white, 

 as in H. ludoviciatia; back, mixed black and light cinnamon (sometimes uniform black); rump, collar 

 round hind-neck, and most of lower parts, uniform buffy-cinnamon ; belly and under wing-coverts 

 lemon-yellow; under tail-coverts, white. Adult female: Above, dusky grayish-brown, streaked, 

 especially on back and middle line of crown, with pale fulvous or buffy ; beneath, pale fulvous or 

 ochraceous ; streaked on sides and flanks with dusky, but usually without streaks on breast ; belly, 

 pale yellowish, and under wing-coverts clear lemon-yellow. 



"Length, 7.50 to 8.90 inches; wing, 3.85 to 4.20; tail, 3.40 to 3.90 inches." (R. Ridgway.) 



