The Yellow-headed Blackbird 



shine than tries to drive off the intruder. Let the homely and distrait 

 female attend to that. 



The nests are stoutly-woven baskets of reeds and grasses, light and 

 dry and handsome. No mud or other matrix material is used in con- 

 struction, and the interior is always carefully lined with fine, dry grass. 

 Tules and cattails, especially of the narrow-leafed variety, are favorite 

 cover, but rank herbage of any sort is used, if only it be near or over 

 water. The most humble situations suffice; and the nest is often placed 

 within a foot of the water, or its equivalent of black ooze. 



Although the species is highly gregarious in late summer and in 

 migrations, nests are thinly scattered through the reeds, like those of 

 Redwings rather than like those of the Tricolored Blackbird. Neighbors 

 are apt to be like-minded, and a given patch of tules will show a uniform 

 stage of development — eggs or young. On the other hand, I have found 

 communities so at loggerheads that nests ranged from "under construc- 

 tion "to " young ready-to-fly. " In the San Joaquin-Sacramento basin, at 

 least, four is the rigid rule for eggs. The only exception I ever noted 

 contained ten, evidently the product of a single female. 



Yellow-headed Blackbirds share the weakness of their kind for 

 grain, whether fresh-sown, sprouting, in-the-milk, or ripening. Waste 

 grain is gleaned from the ground, and enormous quantities of weed-seed 

 are consumed. None of the blackbirds, however, are vegetarians. 

 Insects are freely eaten at all seasons, while grubs and worms are much 

 sought after. Alfalfa fields owe a great deal to their cleansing ministra- 

 tions, and if a balance could be struck between profit and loss to the 

 farmer, the bird might win. Anyhow, he is a splendid fellow, and his 

 golden regalia should be passport enough to any mere barley-field. 



Taken in Merced County NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS Photo by the Author 



THESE BLACK-NECKED STILTS ARE "RUSTLING" BREAKFAST WITHIN A STONE'S THROW OF 

 A COLONY OF NESTING YELLOW-HEADS 



128 



