BREWER'S BLACKBIRD. 495 



many pairs nest singly. Brewer's Blackbirds do not nest in such large bodies 

 as do the Redwings and other species, and colonies of fifteen to twenty pairs 

 are much less frequently found breeding together than smaller ones of from five 

 to ten pairs; occasionally several pairs nest in the same tree. I have met with 

 it almost everywhere in the West, from the British line to southern Arizona, 

 but in the latter Territory only in winter. Inasmuch as it breeds in southern 

 California, it probably breeds also in Arizona, but I did not look for its nests. 



Nidification throughout the greater portion of its range usually begins about 

 May 1; in southern California it is sometimes fully a month earlier, and the 

 nest, in this locality at least, is generally placed in low bushes or in trees, from 

 2 to 30 feet from the ground, rarely higher. It nests mainly in oak, fir, cypress, 

 juniper, pine, willow, and apple trees, and ui wild-rose, service-berry, and sage- 

 brush thickets. Ordinarily the nests are placed not over 8 feet from the ground, 

 and in certain localities, as near Camp Harney, in southeastern Oregon, they are 

 more frequently placed on the ground, or rather in the ground, the rim of the 

 nest being flush with the surface. I found quite a number there in such situa- 

 tions, even when suitable trees and bushes were available close by, and in every 

 such case the nest was placed close to or directly on the edge of a perpen- 

 dicular bank of some small creek which might become dry by July, and never 

 by any chance as much as a foot away from the bank. I did not find a single 

 exception where the nest was placed on the ground, and I examined more than 

 fifty. It puzzled me for a time to account for this, but I believe I can give the 

 reason for it now. Cattle and Indian ponies graze close to streams in the early 

 spring, because the grass there is generally greener and more abundant, and if 

 the nests were not placed in the positions they are, many would undoubtedly 

 be stepped on and the eggs or young destroyed. The birds have learned this 

 and place them where animals will not willingly walk, that is, close to a perpen- 

 dicular bank, be it ever so low. 



The nest is a rather bulky structure when placed in trees or bushes, consist- 

 ing of a loose platform of small sticks, mixed with weed and grass stalks, shreds 

 of bark, rootlets, dry grass, and moss, and these materials are generally, but not 

 always, cemented together with earth, or with cow and horse manure. Some 

 nests are much more solidly built than others ; in these well-built nests the bulk 

 of the materials is used wet, and those built on the ground are apparently always 

 fashioned in this way. The inner cup of the nest is neatly lined with fine root- 

 lets, decayed shi-eds of bark, or horsehair, more rarely with dry grass. A nest 

 now before me, taken near Camp Harney, Oregon, May 22, 1875, and sunk into 

 the ground, measures 6 inches in outer diameter by 3 inches in depth; the inner 

 cup is 4 inches wide by 2^ inches deep. Nests built in trees are bulkier and 

 deeper on the outside, but the inner cup measures about the same. It takes 

 about a week to complete the nest, and both sexes assist in its construction. 



Throughout the greater portion of its range nidification is at its height 

 during the last half of May, and occasionally it is protracted into July. In 

 California it breeds ordinarily during the last two weeks of April. Capt. W. L. 

 Carpenter, United States Army, took a set of five eggs on July 6, 1874, near 



