BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES 



('497) Xanthocephalus xantho= 



CephaluS (Bonap.) (Gr., yellow head). 



YELLOW-HEADED BLACK- 

 BIRD. Ad. o"" — Head, neck and 

 breast clear yellow; lores and rest 

 of plumage, except the white bases 

 of primaries, black. 9 much duller 

 plumaged, the yellow being less in- 

 tense and mi.xed with dusky, espe- 

 cially on the top of the head; body 

 grayish-black where that of the c? is 

 black; lacks the white wing patch; 

 considerable smaller than the male, 

 which measures: L., 10.50; W., 5.50; 

 T.,4.50; B., .90; Tar., 1.25. Nest — 

 Of marsh grasses and rushes woven 

 together and fastened to living 

 rushes over water. 



Range — Breeds from Keewatin 

 and B. C. south to IMexico; east to 

 Minn, and northern III. 



South Atlantic and Gulf States, they are known as Rice- 

 birds because they feed upon rice, much of which is then 

 in the milky stage; they do immense damage to these valuable 

 crops, and planters have to hire men, women, and children 

 to shoot as many as possible of them. 



COWBIRDS are unique, in that they are the only birds in 

 our country which build no nests of their own, because 

 of which fact the country boy usually terms them Lazy- 

 birds. During most of the year they roam about in small 

 flocks, feeding upon various insects and seeds; in spring they 

 spread out over the country by twos and threes, and are 

 quite silent and secretive in their actions. The female slyly 

 slips through the trees or underbrush until she locates 

 the nest of some small bird containing one or two eggs, 

 beside which she deposits one of her own; she continues 

 this daily until four or five nests each contain, beside their 

 own, an egg of hers. Here all her duties end and those of 

 the foster parents of her children commence. The young 

 Cowbird is larger and stronger than his fellow occupants 



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