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BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
General Habits. —In San Juan County, in the fall migration 
of 1908, Mr. Birdseye found the yellow-eyed, glossy-coated Brewer 
Blackbirds exceedingly abundant at Farmington and Fruitland. At 
Liberty and Shiprock tiiey were also common. He says, “They go 
in immense flocks, which can sometimes be heard for almost a mile. 
At Farmington they settle in the streets in large numbers and are as 
tame as English Sparrows in New York City” (MS). The presence 
of these handsome birds, as familiars of the lawns, aside from their 
densely peopled roosting trees, resorted to at sunset, left at dawn, 
adds an element of peculiar interest to many western towns and cities. 
At Mesilla Park the Brewer is resident, but nests in smaller numbers 
than the other blackbirds. In fall and spring, Professor Merrill 
states, its numbers are greatest. It nested in 1913 in the outskirts 
of a large Yellow-head colony near Mesilla Park. At other seasons 
of the year it usually associates with the Red-wings and Yellow- 
heads, and has the same feeding habits (MS). 
Where trees were scarce, Mr. Ridgway found a colony of over a 
hundred pairs. 
The Brewer is noted for following the plow to pick up grubs and 
worms. As J. G. Tyler says, “If the workman walks along without 
appearing to notice their presence, these birds will often follow at a 
distance of not over 2 or 3 feet” (1913, p. 74). At Clovis, California, 
where the vineyards were invaded by a scourge of beetles, a great 
flock came every day until they had nearly freed the vines of them. 
During a flight of grasshoppers in Utah, Mr. Ridgway says, they seemed 
to eat nothing else. 
GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE: Megaqufscalus major macrourus (Swainson) 
Description. — Male: Length, 17-18.7 inches, wing, 7.3-8, tail, 8.3-9.3, graduated 
from 2.5-3.5 inches; bill, 1.5-1.7. Female: Length about 11.5-13.5 inches, wing, 
5.7-6.5, tail, 5.4-6.3, bill, 1.2-1.4. Adult male: Head , neck, and breast purple, chang¬ 
ing through steel-blue to greenish on back and belly; wings and tail black, glossed with 
bluish green, lesser wing coverts steel-blue. Adult female: Upperparts dusky brown, 
head dark brown, darkening on back to blackish, glossed with green and purple; 
underparts hair brown, chin and throat paler. Young: Like adult female but 
browner, without gloss above, and more bully below. 
Range. —Southern New Mexico and central Texas south through southern 
Mexico, Yucatan, and Central America to northern Colombia, and west over southern 
part of Mexican tableland to Michoacan and Jalisco. 
State Records. —The first records of the Great-tailed Grackle in New Mexico 
were obtained in 1913, and Professor Merrill writes in regard to them: “A male of 
this species was shot near Las Cruces, May 15, 1913, and brought to me by Miss 
Fannie Ford. The skin is in the College Museum. At La Mesa a friend of Miss 
Ford reported a pair to be nesting in an old apricot tree in the dooryard. The 
description of the birds and their nest, song, and actions leave little doubt as to 
their identity. These are the only records here. La Mesa is across the Rio Grande 
and a little below Mesquite,” about 15 miles below Mesilla (MS). [An adult male 
