YELLOW-HEADED TROOPIAL. 



'ZD 



sippi, where it "arrives from the southward in the middle of May, and by 

 the 20th of the same month reaches the Saskatchewan, where it associates 

 with the Redwing, and, being more numerous, commits even greater havoc 

 in the corn-fields. Mr. Nut-tall has favoured me with the following notice 

 respecting it. "On the 2d of May, around the Kansa (Texian) Agency, we 

 now saw abundance of the Yellow-headed Troopial, associated with the Cow- 

 bird. The3^ kept much on the ground in companies, the males (at this time) 

 by themselves. In arable or loose soil they dig into the earth with their 

 bills in quest of insects and larvae, are very active, and straddle about with a 

 quaint gait, and now and then, while on the ground, which they wholly 

 frequent, in the manner of the Cow-bird, whistle out with great effort, a 

 chuckling note sounding like ko-kukkle- ait , often varying into a straining 

 squeak, as if using their utmost endeavour to make some kind of noise in 

 token of sociability. Their music, if such it deserves to be called, is how- 

 ever even inferior to the harsh note of the Cow-bird. Are they also 

 polygamous? Afterwards, in the month of June, by the edge of a grassy 

 marsh, in the open plain of the Platte, several hundred miles inland, we met 

 with the nest of this bird containing several spotted and blotched greenish- 

 white eggs, not much unlike those of the Red-winged Starling, Jlgelaius 

 phce?iicetis." To this Mr. Townsend adds: — "Jlgelaius xanthocephalus 

 inhabits the western plains of the Missouri and banks of the Platte river to 

 the Black Hills. The nest of this species is built under a tussock in marshy 

 ground, formed of fine grasses, and canopied over like that of the Meadow 

 Lark. The eggs, from two to four, are of a bluish-white, covered all over 

 with minute specks of purple, largest and most numerous at the great end. 

 It associates with the Cow Bunting, and alights on the backs of the horses. 

 Its note is very harsh and grating, and does not resemble that of the Red- 

 winged Blackbird." 



I have represented a male, a female, and the head of a young bird 

 approaching towards maturity. 



Western Plains, California, and Fur Countries. Abundant. Migratory. 



Yellow-headed Troopial, Icterus icterocephalus , Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 27. 



Icterus xanthocephalus, Bonap. Syn., p. 52. 



Agelaius xanthocephalus, Saffron-headed Maize-bird, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. 



Amer., vol. ii. p. 281. 

 Yellow-headed Troopial, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 176. 

 Yellow-headed Troopial, Icterus xanthocephalus , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 6. 



Adult Male, 9; wings, 5|f. 



Bill shorter than the head, stout, straight, conical, tapering to a fine point; 

 upper mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight, being slightly convex at 

 Vol. IV. 4 



