674 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
Warm Springs Ranch, 25 miles southeast of Silver City. It was in company with 
Black-headed Grosbeaks. He was able to get within 20 feet of it so that its rose 
breast and white rump were clearly seen (1923, p. 182). 
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK: Hedymeles 
melanocephalus papago Oberholser 
Plate 73 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 6.6-7.7 inches, wing 3.7-4.3, tail 2.8-3.4, 
bill .6-.8. Female: Length (skins) 6.1-7.8, wing 3.7-4.1, tail 2.7-3.4, bill .6-.8. 
Bill extremely heavy, tail shorter than wing, feet short and stout. Adult male in 
summer: Upper parts mainly black, with cinnamon-brown collar and rump (sometimes 
with brown stripe back of eye, through 
middle of crown, and on back); tail and 
wings black, tail with large white patches 
on outside feathers, wings with three 
white patches (on coverts and base of 
primaries), and with white tips to tertials; 
under wing coverts andaxillars lemon-yellow , 
underparts tawny or buffy cinnamon , be¬ 
coming yellow on belly; bill bluish white 
at base above, legs and feet bluish gray. 
Adult male in winter: Upperparts with 
more cinnamon or buffy, crown usually with 
more or less buffy feather edging. Adult 
female in summer: Upperparts brownish or 
olive, streaked on head and back; tail and 
wings grayish brown with white markings 
restricted on tail, sometimes obsolete, under 
wing coverts lemon-yellow, underparts 
tawny or dull buffy, usually yellowish 
(sometimes white) on belly; sidesand flanks 
streaked. Adult female in winter: Similar, 
but with the buff or brown more pro¬ 
nounced and lateral crown stripes streaked 
with black. Young male: Similar to 
adult female but eye and cheek stripes 
whiter, cheeks and lateral crown stripe 
brownish black, underparts paler and 
without yellow. 
Range. —Breeds in Transition and 
Upper Sonoran Zones from southern Sas¬ 
katchewan, eastern Idaho, Montana, and central North Dakota to Nebraska south 
to central-western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada; in winter from Durango 
to Puebla and probably to southern Mexico. Recorded from British Columbia. 
State Records. The Black-headed Grosbeak breeds north and south entirely 
across New Mexico, and east to the Sacramento Mountains (Green), the Capitan 
Mountains (Gaut), Montoya (Bailey), Sierra Grande, and Oak Canyon (Howell). 
Though the actual observations at these last two places were made after fall migra¬ 
tion had begun, it is probable that the species had nested near where it was noted. 
[In the Sangre do Cristo Range it was observed sparingly along the main water¬ 
courses from 7,000 to 8,000 feet. On June 22, 1919, one was seen on the Little Rio 
Grande at 7,400 feet. On July 9 and 19, it was seen rather commonly at Valley 
Ranch on the Pecos, where it was apparently feeding young (Ligon). In the Santa 
From Biological Survey 
Fig. 114. Black-headed Grosbeak 
Singing his beautiful song 
