The Brewer Blackbird 



The eggs of Brewer's Blackbird are the admiration of oologists. 

 Ranging in color from clear greenish gray with scattered markings through 

 denser patterns to nearly uniform umber and chocolate, they are the 

 natural favorites of "series" hunters. The range of variation is, indeed, 

 curious, but it proves to be entirely individual and casual, without trace 

 of local or constant differences. Eggs from the same nest are usually 

 uniform in coloration, but even here there may be a notable diversity. 

 In some instances, after three or four eggs are laid, the pigment gives out, 

 and the remainder of the set is lighter colored. Again, single eggs are 

 heavily pigmented half way, and finished with a clear green ground-color. 



Taken in Santa 

 Barbara County 



Photo by the A uthor 



CONTENTMENT— A SCENE IN THE ESTERO 



Fresh eggs have been taken as early as March 16th, 1 but April is the 

 proper nesting month at the lower levels. It is impossible, though, 

 to lay down rules or strike averages for a bird which breeds from the 

 level of the sea to the top of high Transition, and possibly into Boreal. I 

 am not able to find a specific record of the Brewer Blackbird's nesting 

 above 7000 feet, although Dr. Fisher 2 mentions it as "breeding at Big 

 Cottonwood Meadows [alt. 10,000] during the summer;" and I presume 

 that the birds which appeared at the Cottonwood Lakes (alt. 11,350) 

 June 23rd, 191 1, fell to nesting forthwith, as did the Spotted Sandpipers, 

 which did not arrive until the 14th of July. 



This is but a characteristic example of the complexity of distribu- 

 tional problems in California. A precise account of the seasonal ranges 

 in this State of the Brewer Blackbird alone would require a separate 



'By Evan Davis near Orange: Grinnell, Pub. 2, Pasadena Acad. Sci., 189S, p. 34. 

 2 Birds of the Death Valley Expedition, p. 78. 



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