642 
BIRDS OF Nfe\V MEXICO 
all through the day. Other migrating Meadowlarks were met with 
later on Cactus Flat, where they were singing delightfully. At sunrise 
they flew across into the first sunshine, one of them flying to the tip 
of a yucca flower stalk just after the sun reached it. 
In January, when Mr. Gaut found them the most numerous birds 
in the Jarilla Hills, small flocks were seen in company with Mourning 
Doves, traveling up and down a small mining railroad track, probably 
picking up gravel and weed seed. 
They are resident at Mesilla Park, and Professor Merrill wrote 
appreciatively, “the Western Meadowlark’s clear note is a charm of 
the winter. Nesting in April and May,” he says, “the old and young 
collect in small flocks from mid-August on. At this tune their call is 
so often heard that the Mockingbirds take it up, but have to practice 
a long time before they master the artful note-whipping of the finale. 
However, they do get it so one can tell the difference only by the 
timbre of the voices. It is amusing indeed to see a string of a dozen 
or so Meadowlarks and two or three Mockingbirds seated on a wire 
and hear all giving the same call” (MS). 
Along the San Juan River, where, in October and November, Mr. 
Birdseye found the Meadowlarks in alfalfa fields, river bottoms, 
orchards, grain fields, and weed patches, they were still singing. “In 
the early morning,” he wrote with enthusiasm, “when the volume of 
their varied song fairly filled the air, it was one of the most beautiful 
sounds it has ever been my privilege to enjoy” (MS). 
Their song is indeed one of the most stirring and soul satisfying 
of all our bird songs. As Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller said of the full 
rich outpouring—“The whole breadth and grandeur of the great 
West is in this song, its freedom, its wildness, the height of its moun¬ 
tains, the sweep of its rivers, the beauty of its flowers—all in the won¬ 
derful performance” (1894, p. 33). 
Additional Literature.—Bowdish, B. S., Educational Leaflet 3, Nat. Assoc. 
Audubon Soc.— Miller, O. T., Upon the Tree-tops, 191, 1897.— Myers, H. W., 
Educational Leaflet 111, Nat. Assoc. Audubon Soc.— Saunders, A. A., Auk, XLI, 
242-259, 1924 (individual bird songs).— Thoms, C. S., Bird-Lore, XXVI, 315-317, 
1924 (nests). 
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD: Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (Bonaparte) 
Plate 67 
Description. — Male: Length about 10.6-11.1 inches, wing 5.6-5.8, tail 4.5-4.8. 
Female: Length about 9-10 inches, wing 4.4-4.6, tail 3.5-3.7. Adult male in summer: 
Head, neck, and long, 'pointed front, yellow or orange; region around base of bill and 
eye, black; rest of plumage black, except for a while patch on the wing. Adult male 
in winter: Similar, but yellow of crown and hind neck obscured by dusky tips to 
feathers. Adult female: Upperparts dark brown, without white patch on wings; line 
over eye, cheeks, chin, and throat dull whitish , usually tinged with yellow and passing 
