it EAU DUB OINSB.ULL ETN 7\ 
Coots were seen in increasing flocks on Lake Zurich from March 30, 
when there were about 75, until April 27, when there were hundreds. 
There was something very amusing about these compact flocks of very 
black little birds, riding often close to the shore where cars were passing. 
More Great Blue Herons than usual visited our territory, our last 
record being November 11. i 
My most surprising experience in many years was the discovery of a 
new bird, just outside the pantry window, December 8. After careful 
study he was identified as a Yellow-headed Blackbird in winter plumage. 
The head was dull buffy, brighter when the sun struck it. The throat and 
upper breast were the same color. The feathers at the base of the bill dusky, 
a streak of dusky brown separating the buff of the head from that of the 
throat. No white was visible on the wings, and that probably detracted 
from the apparent size, as the bird seemed considerably smaller than those 
I have seen in summer plumage. In the bright sunlight the back appeared 
very black, but in dull light the black had a distinct brownish cast. Wavy 
streaks of dull white extended down the breast | elow the bufiy-orange of 
the upper breast. A smaller brownish-black bird appeared within a short 
time, and remained with the first for four days. This was doubtless a 
female. The male carried the right wing partly spread and drooping, and 
the primaries were about an inch shorter than on the left wing. 
The birds were attracted by the food we keep scattered about. The 
male bird stayed until December 16. He fed constantly on our window 
shelf, surrounded by English Sparrows, occasionally pecking at them in 
an ineffectual but exasperated manner. I should have liked to try trapping 
him for banding, but feared to drive him away. 
On December 19, in a snowstorm, looking out from the same win- 
dows, we saw a dejected-looking Red-winged Blackbird in a bush close 
to the house. He was quite black but there seemed to be very little red 
in the wing-patch, which showed only the yellow most of the time. 
We have had Red-winged Blackbirds come to our feeding station once - 
before, in a spring snowstorm, but we have never before seen Yellow- 
headed Blackbirds nearer than Honey Lake, five miles distant, and that 
was many years ago. Since then we have seen them only at Grassy Lake 
in the Fox river. 
A member of our club who lives several miles northeast of us reports 
having seen a Red-winged Blackbird on December 18 and 19, possibly the 
came we saw. A female Cardinal was here. for a few days following 
November 24. i 
Mrs. Ropert Work, Barrington, III. 
