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MV AVIAN VISITORS: NOTES FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 
9,3 
TO THE MEADOWLARK 
O, blithesome bird, 
Thy voice is heard 
While yet the Frost-king rules the land, 
And e’en when flowers, 
’Mid fragrant showers, 
Are waked to life b}^ Springtime’s wand. 
And yet so .sweet, 
Th}^ song is meet 
To thrill the pulses of the gods. 
When on a gay 
Autumnal day 
Thou singest ’mid the golden-rods. 
That sound so clear • 
From far and near — 
That sound so common, yet so rare — 
That joyous flood, 
Euterpe’s blood — 
Pours out to drown the fiends of care. 
For ages long 
That selfsame song 
ITnchanged has welcomed each new day; 
Would Faith and Love, 
All else above. 
Were changeless as thy wondrous lay! 
That beautiful relative of the meadowdark, the Red-winged Blackbird (A^e- 
laitis phcvniceiis) , was not a common visitor to the barnyard at Medicine Root. He 
belongs to the low-lying meadows and the marshes, and in order to ascertain with 
any accuracy his times of arrival and departure, w’e must be on hand at such places in 
spring and autumn. On March 11, 1904, however, I saw a Red-wing at my hay- 
stack. On April 20 of the same 5 ^ear a male Yellow-head {Xanthocephahis xantho- 
cephah(s) also paid me a visit. Either of these two birds is not common there- 
abouts. But along the .sluggish streams and among the swampy meadows that 
abound in many regions of that country, both the Red-wings and the Yellow- 
heads are very abundant. At Grass Creek, about forty miles westward, I found 
the Red-wings in large numbers ne.sting in the wolfberry thickets throughout the 
month of June. 
Among the afore-mentioned pines dwell the Pinyon Jays, or Blue Crows 
{Cyafiocephalns cyajiocephalus) . “Pinebird” is the vernacular name, and not a 
bad one, either. These, as a rule, are birds of the wilds, w’hich at most seasons 
fly about in sizable flocks, uttering vreird cries, half caw, half mew. Once in a 
while a flock will alight near an Indian tepee, investigate for a moment, then fly 
away. They are fond of hovering along the high bluffs that border the creeks, 
and peering into the cracks and crevices thereof. While thus emploj'ed, I presume 
that they are in search of insects and their larvae. At No Flesh Creek, not far 
from my station, I on one occasion saw a Clarke Crow ^Niicifraga cohimbiana) 
in company with a troop of them while thus engaged. I heard his squawk, or 
chatter, above the screams of the jays, and was thus led to discover him. This 
