YELLOWHEAD (Xanthocephalus 

 xanthocephalus) . 



Length, about 10 inches. Our only blackbird with 

 a yellow head. 



Range: Confined to western North America. 

 Breeds from southern British Columbia, southern 

 Mackenzie, southwestern Keewatin, and northern 

 Minnesota to southern California and Arizona, east 

 to southern Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana; winters 

 from southwestern California, southern Arizona, 

 southeastern Texas, and southwestern Louisiana 

 south into Mexico. 



Apparently Nature started out with the intention 

 of making an oriole but decided to make a black- 

 bird instead — and behold the yellowhead. He is a 

 sociable chap and nests in great companies in the 

 tule swamps of the west. The yellowhead' s voice 

 is harsh and guttural and his vocal efforts have 

 been well characterized as a maximum of earnest 

 effort with a minimum of harmony. Late in mid- 

 summer when the young are on the wing, old and 

 young betake themselves to the uplands, grain 

 fields, pastures and corrals, associating as often as 

 not with redwings and Brewer's blackbirds. The 

 yellowhead feeds principally upon insects, grain and 

 weed seed, and does not attack fruit or garden prod- 

 uce; but it does much good by eating noxious insects 

 and troublesome weeds; where too abundant it is 

 likely to be injurious to grain. 



(See Biol. Surv. Bui. No. 13, 1900, p. 32.) 



COWBIRD (Molothrus ater). 



Length, about 8 inches. Male glossy black, head, 

 neck and breast brown. Female brownish gray. 



Range: Breeds from southern British Columbia, 

 southern Mackenzie and southeastern Canada south 

 to northern California, Nevada, northern New 

 Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina; 

 winters from southeastern California and the Ohio 

 and Potomac Valleys to the Gulf and to central 

 Mexico. 



Chapman calls the cowbird a villain — but is not the 

 villain in the piece often the most interesting char- 

 acter on the stage? Thus our cowbird, short as he is 

 of manners and morals, cannot fail to interest the 

 bird lover. He is full of idiosyncrasies that keep one 

 guessing. Why for instance his close association 

 with the peaceful cow? Why his ludicrous attempts 

 to sing, he who has not a thread of music in his whole 

 make-up? How did Madame Cowbird come to 

 lapse from the paths of virtue and, in place of build- 

 ing a nest of her own, foist her eggs and the care of 

 her offspring on smaller and better principled birds 

 to their detriment? Leaving these conundrums for 

 wiser heads to solve, I must say that the cowbird 

 seems to have chosen the smooth path to prosperity. 

 It makes an easy livelihood, having no parental 

 cares or worries, and is common and widely distrib- 

 uted. The farmer seems to have little to complain 

 of in respect to the bird's food habits. 

 (See Biol. Surv. Bui. 13, p. 29, 1900.) 



STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris). 



Length, about 8^ inches. General color dark 

 purple or green with reflections; feathers above 

 tipped with creamy buff. In flight and general 

 appearance unlike any native species. 



Range: At present most numerous near New 

 York City. Has spread to Massachusetts, Connecti- 

 cut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia 

 and recently to the District of Columbia; resident 

 where found, though wandering southward in winter 

 in search of food. 



The Old World has sent us two bird pests, the 

 English sparrow and the starling. Although, up to 

 the present time, we cannot convict the starling of 

 having done any great damage he has proclivities 

 which make him potentially very dangerous. In- 

 troduced into New York in 1890, the original sixty 

 have multiplied many fold and spread in all direc- 

 tions till now they occupy territory hundreds of miles 

 square, and are multiplying and spreading faster 

 than ever. On the north they have entered Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut, and on the south they 

 have reached Richmond, though only in migration. 

 Even as I write the calls of a flock of 200 or more can 

 be heard coming from a neighboring park, but as 

 yet the bird has not elected to summer in the Na- 

 tional Capital. The starling is a hardy, prolific bird 

 and is also aggressive. Like the English sparrow it 

 associates in flocks, which is a great advantage in 

 bird disputes. There is little doubt that the effect 

 of its increase and spread over our country will 

 prove disastrous to native species such as the blue- 

 birds, crested flycatchers, swallows, wrens and 

 flickers, all valuable economic species, which nest in 

 cavities as does the starling. Then too the starling 

 has a taste for grain and small fruits, especially 

 cherries, which will not commend it to our farmers 

 and orchardists. 



CHIMNEY SWIFT (Chzetura pelagica). 



Length, rather less than o| inches. Too well 

 known by its peculiar flight and habits to need 

 describing. 



Range: Known only in eastern North America. 

 Breeds from southeastern Saskatchewan, Manitoba, 

 Quebec, and Newfoundland south to Gulf Coast; 

 west to Plains from eastern Montana to eastern 

 Texas; winters south of the United States. 



The popular name of this bird, chimney swallow, 

 embodies an error since the bird not only is not a 

 swallow but is not even distantly related to the 

 swallow family. Unlike the humming birds as the 

 chimney swift is in appearance and habits, it is 

 structurally not far removed from them. Like the 

 swallows it is an indefatigable skimmer of the air 

 and like them it earns a debt of gratitude by destroy- 

 ing vast numbers of our winged enemies, which its 

 unsurpassed powers of flight enable it to capture. 

 Indeed, chimney swifts eat nothing but insects, and 

 no insect that flies is safe from them, unless it be too 

 large for them to swallow. In June swifts may be 

 seen gathering twigs for nest material. They disdain 

 to pick these up from the ground but seize the coveted 

 twig with their strong feet and break it off from the 

 terminal branch when in full flight. By means of a 

 sticky saliva secreted for the purpose the swift 

 glues these twigs to the sides of the chimney in the 

 form of a shallow nest. Although not generally 

 known, swifts roost in chimneys and cling to the 

 walls by using the sharp pointed tail as a prop, as 

 do many woodpeckers in ascending trees. Any bird 

 lover may secure distinction by solving an ornitho- 

 logical riddle and telling us where our chimney 

 swifts spend the winter. They come in spring, they 

 go in fall and at present that is about all we know of 

 the matter, save that they do not hibernate in 

 hollow trees, as many have believed. 



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