BULLETIN 
OF THE 
NUTTALL OENITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
Vol. IL OCTOBER, 1877. . No. 4. 
NOTES ON MOLOTHRUS MNEUS, Wagl. 
BY J. C. MERRILL, ASSISTANT SURGEON, U. S. A. 
The occurrence of this species north of Mexico was noted in the 
Bulletin of November, 1876 (Vol. I, p. 88). It is now more than 
a year since it was first observed, and during that time I have had 
ample opportunity to study its habits, a short account of which 
may be of interest. This Cowbird is found in Mexico, Guatemala, 
and Yeragua, as well as in Southern Texas ; how far it penetrates 
into the latter State I am unable to say. My first specimens were 
taken at Hidalgo, on the Rio Grande, seventy miles northwest of 
Fort Brown, where, however, they are not so abundant as lower 
down the river. Here they are common throughout the year, a 
small proportion going south in winter. Those that remain gather 
in large flocks with the Long-tailed Grackles, common Cowbirds, and 
Brewer’s, Red-winged, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds ; they become 
very tame, and the abundance of food about the picket-lines attracts 
them for miles around. M. eeneus is readily distinguishable in 
these mixed gatherings from the other species by its blood-red iris 
and its peculiar top-heavy appearance, caused by its habit of puffing 
out the feathers of the head and neck. This habit is most marked 
during the breeding-season and in the male, but is seen throughout 
the year. 
About the middle of April the common Cowbird, Brewer’s, and 
Yellow-headed Blackbirds leave for the North ; the Long-tailed 
Grackles have formed their colonies in favorite clumps of mesquite 
trees j the Redwings that remain to breed have selected sites for 
their nests ; the dwarf Cowbirds [Molotkrus 'pecoris var. ohscurus) 
