SECTION IV.

_Crown rufous; body above, olive-green._

Pipilo chlorurus, BAIRD.

GREEN-TAILED BUNTING; BLANDING’S FINCH.

_Fringilla chlorura_, (TOWNSEND,) AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 336

(Young). _Zonotrichia chlorura_, GAMBEL, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. 2d

Series, I, 1847, 51. _Embernagra chlorura_, BONAP. Conspectus,

1850, 483. _Fringilla blandingiana_, GAMBEL, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph.

I, April, 1843, 260. _Embernagra blandingiana_, CASSIN, Illus.

I, III, 1853, 70, pl. xii. _Pipilo rufipileus_, LAFRESNAYE,

Rev. Zoöl. XI, June, 1848, 176.—BP. Conspectus, 1850, 487.

_Kieneria rufipileus_, BON. Comptes Rendus, XL, 1855, 356.

_Pipilo chlorura_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am., 1858, 519.—HEERM. X,

c, 15.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 248.

SP. CHAR. Above dull grayish olive-green. Crown uniform chestnut.

Forehead with superciliary stripe, and sides of the head and neck, the

upper part of the breast and sides of the body, bluish-ash. Chin and

upper part of throat abruptly defined white, the former margined by

dusky, above which is a short white maxillary stripe. Under

tail-coverts and sides of body behind brownish-yellow. Tail-feathers

generally, and exterior of wings, bright olive-green, the edge and

under surface of the wings bright greenish-yellow; edge of first

primary white. First quill longer than eighth, fourth longest. Length,

about 7 inches; wing, 3.20; tail, 3.65.

HAB. Whole of the Middle Province, including the Rocky Mountains and

eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada; north to beyond the 40th parallel;

south to Mexico.

In this species the wing is considerably rounded, the tertials

considerably shorter than the primaries, and not exceeding the

secondaries; the fourth quill longest, the first shorter than the

sixth, the second and fifth quills considerably longer than the rest.

The tail is long and considerably graduated, the outer feather half an

inch shortest; the feathers broad and obtusely pointed, the corners

rounded.

[Line drawing: _Pipilo chlorurus._

38493]

The extent of the chestnut of the crown varies somewhat; more extended

probably in the males. The region on the side of the head, adjoining

the nostrils, is whitish; the small feathers under the eye are spotted

with the same. The posterior outline of the ash of the breast is much

less sharply defined than the anterior.

Specimens vary in the brightness of the olive above, which is never as

pure as that of the wings and tail. The olive of the tail, too, is

darker than that of the wings.

[Illustration: _Pipilo chlorurus._]

A very young bird (1,896) has the whole under parts dull white,

streaked and spotted on the sides of the throat and on the breast with

dark brown. The crown and back are also thickly spotted. In 5,734 the

ash of the breast has made its appearance; the middle of the belly is

white, spotted; the chin white, encircled by spots. The spots above

are restricted to near the head, and there is a small central patch of

chestnut on the crown.

No. 1,896 is the original “Green-tailed Sparrow” killed July 12, 1834,

by Townsend, and described in an extract of a letter to Mr. Audubon,

published page 336 of Vol. V. of the Ornithological Biography.

HABITS. Dr. Kennerly, who procured a specimen of this bird at San

Elizario, Tex., December 16, states that it was obtained with some

difficulty. For several successive days it was found in the same

place, occupying a small clump of very thick weeds. When aroused,

which was only accomplished with some effort, its flight was short,

rapid, and decidedly irregular. Its motions on the ground were very

awkward. This species was found by Mr. Ridgway very generally

distributed throughout the fertile mountain portions of the interior.

It was not seen by him in California, and was first met with in the

ravines at the base of the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. On the

high mountain-ranges it was a characteristic and the best-known

singer, as well as one of the most abundant of the _Fringillidæ_,

being found in all bushy places, from the bases to the summits of the

mountains. It is exclusively a summer species, arriving at Carson City

about the middle of April. He describes the usual note of this bird as

very peculiar, and, as nearly as can be described, a sweet laughing

utterance of the syllables _keek-keek´_, a little resembling the

_tweet_ of a Canary, but very musical. This curious note was generally

uttered when anything unusual attracted its attention, such as the

approach of an intruder. Then, with elevated tail and its very

conspicuous red cap raised, it would hop familiarly and unsuspiciously

about. He adds that it is a songster of high merit, in power and

variety ranking very little below the song of the _Chondestes

grammaca_. The song varies in the modulations greatly with the

individual, but the same general style is preserved. At times it

seemed to have a slight resemblance to the song of Bewick’s Wren, and

at others to that of a _Cyanospiza_, and more rarely, to be the

reproduction of a passage from the song of the _Chondestes_.

In the early part of July, near Austin, in the cañons of the

mountains, he found these birds breeding in the greatest abundance,

and later in the same month a few of its nests were found on the East

Humboldt Mountains. All of its nests, with hardly an exception, were

placed from eighteen inches to two feet above the ground, among the

thick bushes of a species of _Symphoricarpus_, or “snow-berry,” which

grows in great abundance upon the sides of the cañons of those

mountains. The maximum number of eggs was four. It was also quite a

common bird in the Wahsatch Mountains, though less abundant than the

_P. megalonyx_.

Mr. Allen found this Finch quite numerous in Colorado Territory, and

speaks of its song as very peculiar and very pleasing. It is said to

resemble in no respect the eastern Towhee Finch, with which it is

classed, but much more closely the group of Sparrows, so familiarly

represented at the east by the White-throated, being like them in

habits, song, and general aspect. It was more common among the

foot-hills than on the plains. In Utah, according to Mr. Allen, this

Finch begins to appear in numbers about September 20, from its

breeding-haunts in the mountains.

Dr. Coues met with this species in Arizona, but only as a spring and

autumn migrant. None remained there in summer to breed, and none were

found there in the winter. In its migrations it passed rapidly by Fort

Whipple, being found there only during the latter part of April and

the beginning of May, and during the month of September. At those

seasons it appeared to him the most silent and retiring of all the

_Pipilos_. He found it very difficult to either observe its habits or

to capture it. It winters sparingly at Fort Mohave.

Specimens of this bird were taken near Lookout Mountain by C. S.

McCarthy, and at Gilmer, in Wyoming Territory, by Mr. Durkee.

Dr. Heermann, in his Report on the birds observed on the 32d parallel,

under Lieutenant Parke, mentions first meeting with this species near

Tucson. They were frequenting, in numbers, the thick undergrowth, and

were seeking seeds and insects on the ground. They seemed inclined to

shun observation, and always kept in the most retired situations. They

were sociable among themselves, going about singly or in pairs,

associated with the _Poospiza bilineata_ and two or three other kinds

of Finch. When started they fly low, diving into the bushes, and soon

disappear from sight. Occasionally, until reaching El Paso, Texas,

birds of this species were met with, mingling with the flocks of

migrating _Fringillidæ_. He there procured a pair apparently just

entering upon incubation.

Instead of being suited by color, like most of the other _Pipilos_, to

inhabit dark thickets and among dry leaves, this species is clad in a

gayer livery, and seems well adapted for concealment in its summer

resorts, and also among the growing vegetation of the lower country

during the rainy season. Dr. Heermann found a few wintering in the

Colorado Valley, and yet more at San Diego, but they left both places

in March. He found them silent and shy, hiding very closely in the

bushes, and feeding altogether on the ground. The only note he heard,

resembled the crowing note of the California Quail.

Among the memoranda of Mr. Xantus, made near Fort Tejon, are the two

following: “4,839, nest and two eggs (of _Pipilo chlorurus_) found in

a dry hedge in Mr. Ritchie’s garden; 5,083, nest and eggs found in a

dark garden-hedge.”

The eggs of the _chlorurus_ are like those of no other _Pipilo_ that I

have met with. They are peculiar in shape, being nearly of an exact

oval, neither end being apparently much more rounded than the other.

Their ground-color is white with a bluish tint, over which is

profusely diffused a cloud of fine dottings of a pinkish-drab. These

markings are occasionally so fine and so thickly distributed as to

give to the egg the appearance of a uniform color, or as an unspotted

pinkish drab-colored egg. Occasionally the dots are deeper and larger,

and more sparsely diffused.

In considering the eggs of the _Pipilos_ in general we find certain

variations which deserve more than a passing notice. Those of

_erythrophthalmus_, _oregonus_, _arcticus_, and _megalonyx_ are all

fringilline in their characters, and have a marked affinity to eggs of

_Melospiza_, _Zonotrichia_, and many other genera of this order. The

eggs of _aberti_, _fuscus_, _mesoleucus_, and _albigula_ are also all

closely alike, and exhibit a very close resemblance to those of the

_Agelaii_, and even of the _Icteri_, while the eggs of _P. chlorurus_,

though of a fringilline character, are unlike either style.

FAMILY ALAUDIDÆ.—THE LARKS.

CHAR. First primary very short or wanting. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly

and posteriorly, with the plates nearly of corresponding position and

number. Hind claw very long and nearly straight. Bill short, conical,

frontal feathers extending along side of the bill; the nostrils

concealed by a tuft of bristly feathers directed forward. Tertials

greatly elongate beyond the secondaries.

Subfamilies and Genera.

Alaudinæ. Bill stout, short, and conical; nasal fossæ

transverse and completely filled by the thick tuft of

bristly feathers, and perforated anteriorly by a circular

nasal opening. (Old and New World.)

Crown with a depressed soft crest of feathers, of normal

structure; a spurious primary; tail deeply emarginate _Alauda_.

Crown without a crest, but occiput with an erectile tuft

of narrow elongated feathers on each side. No spurious

primary; tail square, or slightly rounded _Eremophila_.

Calandritinæ. Bill broader, more depressed, and straighter

at the base; nasal fossæ longitudinal, large, elongated,

the nasal opening rather linear. (Old World.)

Of the _Alaudidæ_ only the two genera diagnosed above belong to the

American continent; and one of them is properly only a wanderer from

the Old World, while the other is cosmopolitan.

The most characteristic feature of the Larks among other oscine

families is seen in the scutellation of the tarsus. The anterior half

of this is covered by divided scales lapping round on the sides, but

instead of the two plates which go one on each side of the posterior

half and unite ultimately behind as an acute ridge, there is but one

which laps round on the sides, and is divided into scales like the

anterior ones, but alternating with them. The posterior edge of the

tarsus is as obtuse as the anterior, instead of being very acute.

There is a deep separating groove on the inner side of the tarsus; and

there may be really but one plate divided transversely, the edges

meeting at this place.

In the elongated hind claw and lengthened tertials, general style of

coloration, mode of life, and manner of nesting, there is a decided

approximation in the _Alaudidæ_ to the _Anthinæ_, of the family

_Motacillidæ_; but in these the posterior edge of the tarsus is sharp

and undivided transversely, the toes more deeply cleft, the bill more

slender, etc.,—their relations being rather nearer to the

_Sylvicolidæ_ than to the present family.

GENUS ALAUDA, LINN.

_Alauda_, LINN. S. N. 1735.

GEN. CHAR. Bill very small, less than half the length of the head,

conical; nostrils exposed; rictal bristles quite strong; commissure

without notch; tarsus much longer than middle toe; lateral toes equal;

posterior toe about as long as the middle, its claw longer than the

digit, and nearly straight; claws of anterior toe very small. Wing

long, pointed, the third and fourth (apparently second and third)

quills longest, the second and fifth successively, a little shorter;

the first so small as to be almost concealed; tertials much elongated,

reaching about half-way from end of secondaries to tip of primaries;

their ends emarginated; tail rather deeply emarginated, and a little

more than half the length of the wing.

Species.

A. arvensis. Above grayish-brown, beneath whitish, with a buffy tinge

across jugulum and along sides; every feather above with a medial

streak of dusky; sides of throat, sides, and across jugulum streaked

with dusky; the outer tail-feathers partly white. Wing, 4.90; tail,

2.80; culmen, .40; tarsus, .80; hind claw, .50. HAB. Europe;

accidental in Greenland and the Bermudas.

Alauda arvensis, LINN.

THE SKYLARK.

_Alauda arvensis_, LINN., Faun. Sue. p. 76. _Alauda vulgaris_,

LEACH, Syst. Cat. Mamm. and Birds in B. M. p. 21. _Alauda

cœlipeta_, PALL. Zoögr. I, 524. _Alauda segetum_, BREHM, Vög.

Deutschl. 318. _Alauda montana_, BREHM, Vög. Deutschl. 319, t.

20, f. 1. _Alauda agrestis_, BREHM, Vög. Deutschl. 320. _Alauda

italica_, GMEL. S. N. I, 793.

SP. CHAR. _Adult._ Above grayish umber-brown, beneath white, tinged

across the breast with soft light ochraceous. Every feather above with

a medial dusky streak, the shaft black; wing-feathers and upper

tail-coverts bordered with white. Outer tail-feather mostly white, the

next one edged with the same. A plain, light superciliary stripe;

auriculars nearly uniform light brownish; sides of the throat,

jugulum, and sides with short streaks of dusky brown.

_Male._ Wing, 4.90; tail, 2.80; culmen, .40; tarsus, .80; middle toe,

.55; hind claw, .50.

_Young._ Above more yellowish-fulvous, the feathers with central

spots, instead of medial stripes of dusky, and bordered terminally

with whitish; jugulum washed strongly with ochraceous, and marked with

dusky spots.

HAB. Europe; accidental in Greenland and the Bermudas; Aleutian

Islands.

HABITS. The famed Skylark of the Old World can rest a twofold claim to

be included in a complete list of North American birds. One of these

is their occasional occurrence in the Bermudas, and in Greenland. The

other is their probably successful introduction near New York.

A few years since an attempt was made to introduce these birds, for

which purpose several individuals were set at liberty on Long Island.

For a short time they did well, and succeeded in raising one or more

broods, but, owing probably to the constant persecution of all small

birds by the foreign population of the neighborhood, the experiment

nearly failed, and none were noticed in that vicinity. Within the last

year or two, however, several pairs of these birds have been observed

in Westchester County, and also on Long Island, by parties competent

to recognize them, and hopes are now entertained that these desirable

birds have obtained a foothold in this country.

According to Messrs. Dresser and Sharpe, the Skylark is found

throughout the polar Arctic regions, from the British Islands eastward

to Siberia and Northern China. A smaller subspecies is met with in

Southeastern Europe, which does not present any character by which it

can be separated from it. In Eastern Europe the Lark has been found as

far north as the Faroe Islands, but has not been observed in Iceland.

It reaches Christiania in March, and leaves in October. It has been

found breeding in Lapland as far north as latitude 65°, and is a

common summer visitant in Finland. Pallas found it abundant throughout

Russia and Siberia, and Steller found it not only in Kamtschatka, but

equally in the Kurile Islands and in those between Asia and America,

so that its occurrence in our Alaskan territories may be regarded as a

not improbable event.

The same writers also state that the Skylark has been twice recorded

as occurring in Greenland and in America; and in another place they

state that “the Skylark occasionally visits Greenland, and has been

met with in the Bermudas.” In the latter place a storm-tried waif was

taken by Mr. J. M. Jones after an easterly gale.

The Lark is a universal favorite in the Old World, and as a vocalist

enjoys a reputation hardly second even to the far-famed Nightingale.

It is an inhabitant of all the countries of Europe, and is said to be

most abundant in the cultivated districts.

We only know of its song from caged specimens and from the testimony

of European writers. Yarrell speaks of its notes as cheerful and

exhilarating, fresh as the season of spring, and the admiration of all

hearers. Its voice is described as powerful to an extraordinary

degree, and its song wild and joyous. They sing while they fly,

rising, with quivering wings almost perpendicularly, until they gain

so great an elevation that they can no longer be distinguished; yet,

while thus no longer visible, their wild music continues to be heard

as that of some unseen spirits of the air. It is said that one

familiar with their song can readily determine, by their notes,

whether the singer is ascending, stationary, or descending.

Occasionally, when at this great elevation, the Lark will close its

wings and drop to the earth with the rapidity of a stone. At times it

will sing while on the ground, but its most lively strains are poured

forth during these flights. And though this bird will sing while in

confinement, and is a favorite cage-bird, yet in singing they are said

to flutter their wings, as if this motion were almost a necessary

accompaniment to their song.

In regard to the song and its peculiarities writers are not quite in

agreement. The general opinion seems to be that, while in the quality

of its tone it is surpassed by the song of the Nightingale, the

Bulfinch, and the Black-cap, it is unequalled in quantity,

sprightliness, variety, and power. The Lark is in song eight months of

the year, and during the summer months it sings from two in the

morning, with very little intermission, until after sunset.

Mr. Macgillivray gives an excellent and graphic description of the

habits of this bird, from which we extract a portion descriptive of

its song. “It has been alleged,” he writes, “that the Lark ascends in

a spiral manner, but my observation does not corroborate the

statement. In rising it often passes directly upward, but with the

body always horizontal, or nearly so, then moves in a curve, and

continues thus alternately, but without a continued spiral motion. At

first, the motion of the wings is uniformly fluttering; but afterwards

it shoots them out two or three times successively at intervals, and

when at its greatest height exhibits this action more remarkably. When

it descends, the song is not intermitted, but is continued until it

approaches the ground, when it usually darts down headlong, and

alights abruptly. Frequently it resumes its song after alighting, and

continues it for a short time, but more commonly it stops when it has

reached the ground. Often a Lark may be seen hovering over a field, in

full song, for a considerable time, at a small height. On the 4th of

May, 1837, I observed a Lark perched on a half-burnt whin branch,

where it remained singing a long time. I have often seen it perch on a

wall, and several times on a hawthorn bush in a hedge; but it never, I

believe, alights on tall trees.

“The song of the Lark is certainly not musical, for its notes are not

finely modulated, nor its tones mellow; but it is cheerful and

cheering in the highest degree, and protracted beyond all comparison.

In a sunny day in April or May, when the grass-fields have begun to

resume their verdure, it is pleasant to listen to the merry songster

that makes the welkin ring with its sprightly notes; in the sultry

month of July, still more pleasant is it to hear its matin hymn while

the dew is yet on the corn; and in winter, should you chance to hear

the well-known voice on high, it reminds you of the bright days that

have gone, and fills you with anticipation of those that are to come.

No doubt much of the pleasure derived from the Lark’s song depends

upon association, but independently of circumstances and associations

the song of the Lark imparts an elasticity to the mind, elevates the

spirits, and suspends for a time the gnawing of corroding care. The

carol of the Lark, like the lively fife, excites pure cheerfulness. In

confinement this bird sings every whit as well as when at large, and

when rapidly perambulating the square bit of faded turf in its cage,

it enacts its part with apparently as much delight as when mounting

toward heaven’s gate.”

This bird succeeds well in cages, and lives to a great age, Yarrell

mentioning one that lived nearly twenty years in confinement. Its

natural food is grain, the seeds of grasses, worms, and various kinds

of insects. They begin to mate in April, and have two broods in a

season. Their nest is always placed on the ground, often sheltered by

a tuft of grass, or some other protection. The nests are woven of

coarse grasses and stems of plants, and are lined with finer materials

of the same. The eggs are five in number, have a grayish-white ground,

occasionally a greenish-white, very generally sprinkled and blotched

with markings of dark-gray and an ashy-brown, so profusely as to

conceal the ground. They are oval in shape, slightly more pointed at

one end, and measure .93 of an inch in length by .70 in breadth.

According to Selby, the young of the first brood are fully fledged by

the end of June, and the second in August. The Lark evinces a very

strong attachment to its young, and many interesting accounts are

given by European writers of its intelligent endeavors to conceal and

to protect its nest,—in one instance constructing an artificial dome

of dry grass, where the natural protection had been cut away by

mowers, and in another attempting to remove the young to a place of

greater safety.

The Lark has, in several instances, been successfully induced to mate

and rear her young in an aviary; and Mr. W. P. Foster, of Hackney, is

quoted by Mr. Yarrell as authority for the statement, that, during the

period of producing the eggs, the female has been heard to sing with a

power and a variety of tone equal to the voice of her mate.

While his mate is sitting on her eggs, the male Lark, apparently timid

at all other times, is remarkably bold, and drives away other birds

that venture too near their nest. He not only watches over her and

seeks to protect her, but assiduously supplies her with food.

GENUS EREMOPHILA, BOIE.

_Eremophila_, BOIE, Isis, 1828, 322. (Type, _Alauda alpestris_.

Sufficiently distinct from _Eremophilus_, HUMBOLDT, [Fishes,] 1805.)

_Phileremos_, BREHM, Deutschl. Vögel, 1831.

_Otocoris_, BONAPARTE, 1839. (Type, _Alauda alpestris_, GRAY.) (We

are unable to find where the genus is named.)

GEN. CHAR. First primary wanting; bill scarcely higher than broad;

nostrils circular, concealed by a dense tuft of feathers; the nasal

fossæ oblique. A pectoral crescent and cheek-patches of black.

[Illustration: ♂ _Eremophila alpestris._]

This genus differs from _Melanocorypha_ in having no spurious first

primary, although the other characters are somewhat similar.

_Calandritis_ of Cabanis, with the same lack of first primary, has a

much stouter bill. The spurious primary, more depressed bill, and

differently constituted nostrils and nasal fossæ of _Alauda_ are

readily distinctive.

[Illustration: _Eremophila alpestris._]

The type of this genus is the _Alauda alpestris_, Linn., a well-known

cosmopolitan species, though the birds of the New World have been

distinguished under distinctive names, as _cornuta_, _chrysolæma_,

_peregrina_, etc. The examination and critical comparison of more than

a hundred specimens from all parts of North America, however, has

convinced us of the identity with _alpestris_ of the several forms

mentioned above, though it may be advisable to retain one or more of

them as geographical races.

Species and Varieties.

E. alpestris. _Adult._ Above pinkish-gray, varying to

cinnamon, the pinkish deepest on nape and lesser

wing-coverts; tail black (except two middle feathers), the

outer feather edged with white. Beneath white, the sides

pinkish or grayish. A frontal band and superciliary

stripe, the middle of auriculars, chin, and throat varying

from white to deep Naples-yellow; forepart of crown, and

“ear-tufts,” a patch on lores and cheeks, and a broad

crescent across the jugulum, deep black; end of auriculars

ashy. _Female_ and autumnal males, with the pattern less

sharply defined, and the colors more suffused. _Young._

Brownish-black above, more or less mixed with clay-color,

and sprinkled with whitish dots; wing-feathers all

bordered with whitish. Beneath white. Markings on head and

jugulum just merely indicated by dusky cloudings.

Wing (of adult male), 4.20 to 4.60; tail, 2.90 to 3.16;

culmen, .60 to .65.

White frontal band, .25 to .30, wide; the black

prefrontal patch, .26 to .35 wide. The pinkish above of

an ashy-lilac shade.

Throat and forehead white, with only a very faint

tinge of yellow; pinkish tinge above more rufous.

_Hab._ Interior Northern Plains of the United States

var. _occidentalis_.

Throat and forehead pale straw-yellow, or strongly

tinged with it; pinkish tinge above varying from

ashy-lilacous to purplish-rufous. _Hab._ Northern

regions of Old and New Worlds var. _alpestris_.

Wing (adult male), 3.80 to 4.10; tail, 2.75 to 2.90;

culmen, .53 to .62.

White frontal band, .13 to .16 wide; the black

prefrontal patch, .35 to .50 wide. Pinkish above of a

deep cinnamon shade. _Hab._ Desert plains of South

Middle Province of United States, and table-lands of

Mexico, south to Bogota var. _chrysolæma_.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXII.

1. Eremophila cornuta. ♂ Nev., 53470.

2. ” ” _Juv._, Wisc., 4330.

3. Alauda arvensis. Europe.

4. Dolichonyx oryzivorus. ♂ Pa., 977.

5. ” ” ♀ Kansas, 13069.

6. Molothrus pecoris. ♀ Ga., 32446.

7. ” ” ♀

8. ” ” _var._ obscurus. ♂ Manzanillo, Mex., 30165.

9. Xanthocephalus icterocephalus. ♂ Utah, 58624.]

Eremophila alpestris, BOIE.

THE SHORE LARK.

SP. CHAR. _Adult male_; spring. A frontal crescent, curving backward

in a broad, sharply defined, superciliary stripe to the occiput; chin,

throat and foreneck, and a crescent across middle of ear-coverts,

whitish, either more or less tinged with yellow, or pure white. Lower

parts, except laterally, white. A broad crescentic patch behind the

frontal whitish crescent, running back on each side of the crown and

terminating in an erectile tuft of narrow elongated feathers on each

side of occiput, a patch covering the lores, nasal tufts, passing

beneath the eye, and forming a broad “mustache” on the cheeks, with a

convex outline behind and concave anteriorly, and a broad crescentic

patch across the jugulum, deep black. A crescentic spot of

grayish-drab across the ends of the auriculars. Posterior portion of

the crown enclosed laterally between the “ear-tufts,” occiput, nape,

lateral lower parts, lesser and middle wing-coverts, and upper

tail-coverts, pinkish-brown; the sides and flanks with obsolete dusky

streaks. Back, scapulars, rump, wings, and two middle tail-feathers,

ashy-drab, the feathers darker centrally, forming rather conspicuous

broad streaks on lower part of back; middle and secondary coverts,

secondaries and primaries bordered terminally, quite conspicuously,

with white. Tail (except the _intermediæ_) black; outer web of lateral

feather almost entirely white, that of the next edged with the same.

_Adult female_; spring. Similar, but markings rather less sharply

defined; a tendency to streaking of nape and crown; these streaks

often displacing the continuous black of the anterior portion of

crown. The “ear-tufts” less developed.

_Winter adult._ Similar to the spring dress, but the black areas

obscured, more or less, by whitish borders to the feathers; the

frontal whitish band less sharply defined. Breast with numerous more

or less distinct deltoid specks of plumbeous, and the pinkish of the

sides much tinged with the same. The dusky streaks above are broader

and more conspicuous.

_Young._ First plumage, entirely different from the adult. Above

dusky, variegated with whitish dots, sprinkled over the whole surface;

these specks terminal on each feather, and of a deltoid form, becoming

more transverse and crescentic on the scapulars and rump; each feather

of the wings broadly bordered with pale brownish, approaching white on

the coverts. The blackish areas are but faintly indicated by a dusky

suffusion, generally very indistinct, across the breast, and over the

cheeks; and variegated with badly defined, more dusky spots; lower

parts, including post-ocular stripe, dull white; sides spotted with

dusky.

The _E. alpestris_, as restricted, is represented in the collection by

three perfect specimens, in the several stages of plumage described;

while there is also a fine specimen from Astrachan, representing a

white-throated race (“var. _bei_” on MS. label) of Central Asia. The

series of American specimens is all that could possibly be desired,

there being numerous examples from nearly the whole northern

continent, from the Arctic regions to as far south as Bogota, and from

coast to coast.

The common Shore Lark of the northern parts of North America appears

to be absolutely identical with the European bird, each of the

specimens of the latter being easily matched from the American series.

It therefore becomes necessary to reduce the name “_cornuta_” to a

synonyme of _alpestris_, the former not affording characters to

distinguish it as even a variety. To _alpestris_ may also be referred

the form known as “_occidentalis_, McCall,” those specimens from the

interior regions which are destitute of any yellow tinge on the

throat. Were this feature a constant one in specimens from the region

which it characterizes, it would be, of course, right to retain the

name in the form of _alpestris_ var. _occidentalis_. As it is,

however, quite a large percentage of the specimens from every locality

where _occidentalis_ is found have more or less yellow throats, but it

is possible that this mixture of the two may be the result of

irregular migrations, those yellow-throated individuals being

stragglers from their breeding habitat,—more to the eastward and

northward. In its white instead of straw-yellow throat, and more

lilaceous than vinaceous upper parts, this form bears a close

resemblance to a race of the deserts of Western (and Central?)

Asia,—the “_bei_”[26]; the latter, however, has these features more

exaggerated than in the one of the central plains of North America.

Breeding throughout the table-lands of Mexico, and in the Western

Province of the United States, north to about the 40th parallel, is a

more strongly marked race, maintaining also more constancy in its

peculiar features; this race is the _E. chrysolæma_, Wagl., of which

name _rufa_, Aud., and _minor_, Giraud, are synonymes. This race,

which we propose to call _E. alpestris_ var. _chrysolæma_, differs

from both the northern styles in smaller size and longer bill, and in

coloration is the opposite extreme from _occidentalis_, having the

vinaceous tints deeper and browner, instead of paler and less brown,

than in _cornuta_ (i. e. typical _alpestris_). The black markings are

also more extended, in proportion to the other colors, reducing the

white on the forehead to a very narrow band, instead of a broad spot

equalling, or exceeding, the black in width. Specimens from

Bogota—about the southern limit of the genus on this continent—are,

perhaps, referrible to _chrysolæma_, or at least not very different

from it, though described by Sclater as distinct, under the name

_peregrinus_.[27]

In fewer words, the variations, with the region, are about as follows.

Starting with North America, north of the United States, we begin with

a style absolutely undistinguishable from that of Europe; this, to

which the name _cornuta_ belongs, visits the Eastern States only in

winter, but breeds over the prairie region of Wisconsin, Illinois, and

westward. West of the Rocky Mountains, especially south of about 40°,

specimens referrible to this style are most numerous in winter, and in

a large series a great percentage of the specimens entirely lack any

yellow on the throat, while the pinkish-brown tints are lighter and

less reddish; this style represents, in these peculiar features, the

“var. _bei_” of Western Asia (Astrachan), and has been distinguished

by the name _occidentalis_, McCall, though it is doubtful whether

McCall’s description is of a specimen of this style or of one of

_chrysolæma_, being taken from a young or immature bird. Breeding

south of about 40°, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast, and

throughout the table-lands of Mexico,—in winter sometimes resident at

the northern limit assigned, and there mixed with northern-bred

individuals,—is a kind which is smaller, and, generally, with a

larger bill; the throat is deeper yellow than in the northern form,

the pinkish tints deepened into cinnamon, and the frontal band

narrower, caused by an encroachment of the black, which, in its

several areas, is extended more in proportion to the other colors.

This is the _E. chrysolæma_ of Wagl., and of which _minor_, Giraud,

and _rufa_, Aud., are synonymes, as already stated.

Along the coast of Oregon and Washington Territory is a very peculiar

race, represented in the collection by several specimens. These differ

essentially in having the dark streaks above very sharply defined,

broad and clear blackish-brown,[28] while the lower parts are strongly

tinged with yellow, even as deeply so as the throat. Additional

specimens from the northwest coast may establish the existence of a

race as distinct as any of those named above.

[26] The name in manuscript on the label of a specimen in

the Schlüter collection, from Astrachan.

[27] _Otocorys peregrina_, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1855, 110, pl.

cii. _Eremophila per._ SCL. Cat. Am. Birds, 1862, 127.

[28] A specimen from Cleveland, Ohio (7,429 ♀, April 1, Dr.

Kirtland), and one from Washington, D. C. (28,246 ♂, Feb.),

have nearly as distinct streaks above, but the white of

lower parts is without any tinge of yellow.

Var. alpestris.

_Alauda alpestris_, LINN. S. N. I, 289.—FORST. Phil. Trans. LXII,

1772, 383.—WILSON,—AUD.—JARD.—MAYNARD, B. E. Mass. 1870,

121. _Otocorys a._ FINSCH, Abh. Nat. 1870, 341 (synonomy and

remarks). _Alauda cornuta_, WILS. Am. Orn. I, 1808, 85.—RICH.

F. B. A. II. _Eremophila c._ BOIE, Isis, 1828, 322.—BAIRD,

Birds N. Am. 1858, 403.—LORD, P. R. A. Inst. IV, 118 (British

Col.).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, XII, 195.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Ch.

Ac. I, 1869, 218 (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870,

251.—SAMUELS, 280. _Phileremos c._ BONAP. List, 1838.

_Otocoris c._ AUCT. _Otocoris occidentalis_, MCCALL, Pr. A. N.

Sc. V, June, 1851, 218 (Santa Fé).—BAIRD, Stansbury’s Rep.,

1852, 318.

CHAR. _Adult._ Frontal whitish crescent more than half as broad as the

black patch behind it. Throat and forehead either tinged, more or less

strongly, with yellow, or perfectly white. Pinkish tint above, a soft

ashy-vinaceous.

_Measurements._ (56,583 ♂, North Europe,) wing, 4.40; tail, 2.90;

culmen, .60; width of white frontal crescent, .25; of black, .30.

(3,780 ♂, Wisconsin,) wing, 4.20; tail, 3.00; culmen, .60; width of

white frontal crescent, .30; of black, .26. (16,768 ♂, Hudson’s Bay

Ter.,) wing, 4.55; tail, 3.10; culmen, .65; width of white frontal

crescent, .35; of black, .36. (8,491 ♂, Fort Massachusetts,) wing,

4.35; tail, 3.15; culmen, .61; width of white frontal crescent, .27;

of black, 27. (The three perfectly identical in colors.)

_Young._ On the upper parts the blackish greatly in excess of the

whitish markings. Spots across jugulum distinct.

HAB. Northern Hemisphere; in North America, breeding in the Arctic

regions and the open plains of the interior regions, from Illinois,

Wisconsin, etc., to the Pacific, north of about 38°.

Var. chrysolæma.

_Alauda chrysolæma_, WAGL. Isis, 1831, 350.—BONAP. P. Z. S. 1837,

111. _Otocorys ch._ FINSCH, Abh. Nat. 1870, 341. _Alauda

minor_, GIRAUD, 16 Sp. Tex. B. 1841. _Alauda rufa_, AUD. Birds

Am. VII, 1843, 353, pl. ccccxcvii. _Otocoris r._, HEERM. X. s,

45. _? Otocorys peregrina_, SCL. P. Z. S. 1855, 110, pl. cii.

_Eremophila p._, SCL. Cat. Am. B. 1860, 127.

CHAR. _Adult._ Frontal crescent less than half as wide as the black.

Throat and forehead deep straw-yellow; pinkish tints above deep

cinnamon.

_a._ Specimens from California and Mexico, streaks on back, etc., very

obsolete; darker central stripe to middle tail-feathers scarcely

observable; white beneath.

_Measurements._

(3,507, ♂, Tonila, Mexico,) wing, 3.80; tail, 2.75; bill, .53—.15—.42.

(9,115, ♂, Mexico,) ” 4.10; ” 2.90; ” .63—.13—.50.

(3,939, ♂, California,) ” 3.85; ” 2.75; ” .56—.14—.45.

(58,582, ♂, Gt. Salt Lake City,) ” 4.10; ” 2.80; ” .62—.16—.32.

_b._ Specimens from coast of Oregon and Washington Territory. Streaks

on back, etc., very conspicuous; dark central stripe of tail-feathers

distinct; yellow beneath.

_Measurements._

(8,734 ♂, Fort Steilacoom,) wing, 3.75; tail, 2.60; bill, .61—.15—.40.

HAB. Middle America, from the desert regions of the southern Middle

Province of North America, south to Bogota.

HABITS. Assuming the Shore Lark of the Labrador coast and the rufous

Lark of the Western prairies to be one and the same species, but

slightly modified by differences of locality, climate, or food, we

have for this species, at all times, a wide range, and, during the

breeding-season, a very unusual peculiarity,—their abundant

distribution through two widely distant and essentially different

regions.

During a large portion of the year, or from October to April, these

birds may be found in all parts of the United States. Dr. Woodhouse

found them very common throughout Texas, the Indian Territory, New

Mexico, and California. Mr. Dresser states that he found the western

variety—which he thinks essentially different in several respects

from the eastern—in great numbers, from October to the end of March,

in the prairies around San Antonio. Afterwards, at Galveston, in May

and June, 1864, he noticed and shot several specimens. Although he did

not succeed in finding any nests, he was very sure that they were

breeding there. It is common, during winter, on the Atlantic coast,

from Massachusetts to South Carolina. In Maine it is comparatively

rare. In Arizona, Dr. Coues speaks of the western form as a permanent

resident in all situations adapted to its wants. The same writer, who

also had an opportunity of observing the eastern variety in Labrador,

where he found it very abundant on all the moss-covered islands around

the coast, could notice nothing in their voice, flight, or general

manners, different from their usual habits in their southern

migrations, except that during the breeding-season they do not

associate in flocks.

Richardson states that this Lark arrives in the fur countries in

company with the Lapland Bunting, with which it associates, and, being

a shyer bird, would act as sentinel and give the alarm on the approach

of danger. As Mr. Dall only obtained a single skin on the Yukon, it

probably is not common there. Dr. Suckley states it to be a very

abundant summer resident on the gravelly prairies near Fort

Steilacoom, in Washington Territory. He describes it as a tame,

unsuspicious bird, allowing a man to approach within a few feet of it.

It is essentially a ground bird, rarely alighting on bushes or shrubs.

Dr. Cooper adds to this that the Shore Lark is common in the interior,

but he only noticed one on the coast border. In ordinary seasons they

seem to be permanent residents, and in winter to be both more

gregarious and more common. He met with one as late as July 1, on a

gravelly plain near Olympia, scratching out a hollow for its nest

under a tussock of grass.

Dr. Cooper also found these birds around Fort Mohave in considerable

flocks about the end of February, but all had left the valley by the

end of March. About May 29 he found numbers of them towards the

summits of the Providence range of mountains, west of the valley, and

not far from four thousand feet above it, where they probably had

nests. They were also common in July on the cooler plains towards the

ocean, so that they doubtless breed in many of the southern portions

of California, as well as at Puget Sound and on the Great Plains. Dr.

Cooper states that in May or June the males rise almost

perpendicularly into the air, until almost out of sight, and fly

around in an irregular circle, singing a sweet and varied song for

several minutes, when they descend nearly to the spot from which they

started. Their nests were usually found in a small depression of the

ground, often under a tuft of grass or a bush. Mr. Nuttall started a

Shore Lark from her nest, on the plains, near the banks of the Platte.

It was in a small depression on the ground, and was made of bent

grass, and lined with coarse bison-hair. The eggs were olive-white,

minutely spotted all over with a darker tinge.

According to Audubon, these Larks breed abundantly on the high and

desolate granite tracts that abound along the coast of Labrador. These

rocks are covered with large patches of mosses and lichens. In the

midst of these this bird places her nest, disposed with so much care,

and the moss so much resembling the bird in hue, that the nests are

not readily noticed. When flushed from her nest, she flutters away,

feigning lameness so cunningly as to deceive almost any one not on his

guard. The male at once joins her, and both utter the most soft and

plaintive notes of woe. The nest is embedded in the moss to its edges,

and is composed of fine grasses, circularly disposed and forming a bed

about two inches thick. It is lined with the feathers of the grouse

and of other birds. The eggs, deposited early in July, are four or

five in number, and are described by Mr. Audubon as marked with bluish

as well as brown spots.

About a week before they can fly, the young leave the nest, and follow

their parents over these beds of mosses to be fed. They run nimbly,

and squat closely at the first approach of danger. If observed and

pursued, they open their wings and flutter off with great celerity.

These birds reach Labrador early in June, when the male birds are very

pugnacious, and engage frequently in very singular fights, in which

often several others besides the first parties join, fluttering,

biting, and tumbling over in the manner of the European House Sparrow.

The male is described as singing sweetly while on the wing, but its

song is comparatively short. It will also sing while on the ground,

but less frequently, and with less fulness. Its call-note is quite

mellow, and is at times so altered, in a ventriloquial manner, as to

seem like that of another bird. As soon as the young are hatched their

song ceases. It is said to feed on grass-seeds, the blossoms of small

plants, and insects, often catching the latter on the wing, and

following them to a considerable distance. It also gathers minute

crustaceans on the sea-shore.

Mr. Ridgway found this species abundant over the arid wastes of the

interior, and, in many localities, it was almost the only bird to be

found. In its habits he could observe no differences between this bird

and the _alpestris_. He met with their nests and eggs in the Truckee

Reservation, June 3. The nest was embedded in the hard, grassy ground,

beneath a small scraggy sage-bush, on the _mesa_, between the river

and the mountains.

Mr. J. K. Lord mentions that, having encamped at Cedar Springs on the

Great Plains of the Columbia, where the small stream was the only

water within a long distance, he became interested in watching the

movements of these Larks. As evening approached they came boldly in

among the mules and men, intense thirst overcoming all sense of fear.

He found these handsome little birds very plentiful throughout British

Columbia. They were nesting very early on those sandy plains, even

before the snow had left the ground. He saw young fledglings early in

May.

A single specimen of this species was taken at Godhaab, Greenland, in

October, 1835.

Eggs from Labrador are much larger in size than those from Wisconsin.

Two eggs from the first, one obtained by Mr. Thienemann, the other by

Mr. George Peck, of Burlington, Vt., measure .93 and .94 of an inch in

length by .71 in breadth; while some from the West are only .83 in

length and .63 in breadth, their greatest length being .90, and their

largest breadth .69 of an inch. In their ground-color and markings,

eggs from both localities vary about alike. The ground-color varies

from a purplish-white to a dark gray, while the spots are in some a

brownish-lavender, in others a brown, and, quite frequently, an

olive-brown. In some they are in larger, scattered blotches; while in

others they are in very fine minute dots so thickly and so uniformly

diffused as almost to conceal the ground.

FAMILY ICTERIDÆ.—THE ORIOLES.

CHAR. Primaries nine. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly; plated behind. Bill

long, generally equal to the head or longer, straight or gently

curved, conical, without any notch, the commissure bending downwards

at an obtuse angle at the base. Gonys generally more than half the

culmen, no bristles about the base of bill. Basal joint of the middle

toe free on the inner side; united half-way on the outer. Tail rather

long, rounded. Legs stout.

This family is strictly confined to the New World, and is closely

related in many of its members to the _Fringillidæ_. Both have the

angulated commissure and the nine primaries; the bill is, however,

usually much longer; the rictus is completely without bristles, and

the tip of the bill without notch.

The affinities of some of the genera are still closer to the family of

_Sturnidæ_ or Starlings, of which the _Sturnus vulgaris_ may be taken

as the type. The latter family, is, however, exclusively Old World,

except for the occurrence of a species in Greenland, and readily

distinguished by the constant presence of a rudimentary outer primary,

making ten in all.

There are three subfamilies of the _Icteridæ_,—the _Agelainæ_, the

_Icterinæ_, and the _Quiscalinæ_,[29] which may be diagnosed as

follows, although it is difficult to define them with precision:—

Agelainæ. Bill shorter than, or about equal to, the head; thick,

conical, both mandibles about equal in depth; the outlines all more or

less straight, the bill not decurved at tip. Tail rather short, nearly

even or slightly rounded. Legs longer than the head, adapted for

walking; claws moderately curved.

Icterinæ. Bill rather slender, about as long as the head; either

straight or decurved. Lower mandible less thick than the upper; the

commissure not sinuated. Tarsi not longer than the head, nor than

middle toe; legs adapted for perching. Claws much curved.

Quiscalinæ. Tail lengthened, considerably or excessively graduated.

Bill as long as, or longer than, the head; the culmen curved towards

the end, the tip bent down, the cutting edges inflexed, the commissure

sinuated. Legs longer than the head, fitted for walking.

[29] It is an interesting fact in regard to the species of

_Icteridæ_, that, as a general rule, female birds of West

Indian representatives of the _Agelainæ_ and _Quiscalinæ_

are usually, or perhaps universally, uniformly black, where

the continental are brown, either concolored or streaked. We

know of no exception to the first part of this statement as

to _Agelaius_, _Nesopsar_, _Scolecophagus_, and _Quiscalus_.

The smaller North American species of _Quiscalus_ have the

females duller, but not otherwise very different from the

males, except in size. The females of the large _Quiscalus_,

all continental, are much smaller than the males, and

totally different. In _Icterus_ all the species in which the

female is very different in color from the male are Northern

Mexican or continental North American (_pustulatus_,

_spurius_, _baltimore_, _bullocki_, _cucullatus_, etc.).

Most West Indian _Icterus_ also exhibit no difference in the

sexes, _dominicensis_, _hypomelas_, _xanthomus_, _bonanæ_,

etc.; in one alone (_leucopteryx_) is the difference

appreciable. The South American species have the females

pretty generally similar to the males, but smaller, as is

the case in the entire family.

SUBFAMILY AGELAINÆ.

CHAR. Bill stout, conical, and acutely pointed, not longer than the

head; the outlines nearly straight, the tip not decurved. Legs adapted

for walking, longer than the head. Claws not much curved. Tail

moderate, shorter than the wings; nearly even.

The _Agelainæ_, through _Molothrus_ and _Dolichonyx_, present a close

relation to the _Fringillidæ_ in the comparative shortness and conical

shape of the bill, and, in fact, it is very difficult to express in

brief words the distinctions which evidently exist. _Dolichonyx_ may

be set aside as readily determinate by the character of the feet and

tail. The peculiar subfamily characteristics of _Molothrus_ will be

found under the generic remarks respecting it.

The following diagnosis will serve to define the genera:—

A. Bill shorter than the head. Feathers of head and

nostrils as in B.

Dolichonyx. Tail-feathers with rigid stiffened acuminate

points. Middle toe very long, exceeding the head.

Molothrus. Tail with the feathers simple; middle toe

shorter than the tarsus or head.

B. Bill as long as the head. Feathers of crown soft.

Nostrils covered by a scale which is directed more or less

downwards.

Agelaius. First quill shorter than the second and third.

Outer lateral claws scarcely reaching to the base of

middle; claws moderate.

Xanthocephalus. First quill longest. Outer lateral claw

reaching nearly to the tip of the middle. Toes and claws

all much elongated.

C. Bill as long as, or longer than, the head. Feathers of

crown with the shafts prolonged into stiffened bristles.

Nostrils covered by a scale which stands out more or less

horizontally.

Sturnella. Tail-feathers acute. Middle toe equal to the

tarsus.

Trupialis. Tail-feathers rounded. Middle toe shorter

than the tarsus.

GENUS DOLICHONYX, SWAINSON.

_Dolichonyx_, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Journ. III, 1827, 351. (Type,

_Emberiza oryzivora_, L.)

[Line drawing: _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._

977]

GEN. CHAR. Bill short, stout, conical, little more than half the head;

the commissure slightly sinuated; the culmen nearly straight. Middle

toe considerably longer than the tarsus (which is about as long as the

head); the inner lateral toe longest, but not reaching the base of the

middle claw. Wings long, first quill longest. Tail-feathers

acuminately pointed at the tip, with the shaft stiffened and rigid, as

in the Woodpeckers.

The peculiar characteristic of this genus is found in the rigid

scansorial tail and the very long middle toe, by means of which it is

enabled to grasp the vertical stems of reeds or other slender plants.

The color of the single species is black, varied with whitish patches

on the upper parts.

Dolichonyx oryzivorus, SWAINSON.

BOBOLINK; REEDBIRD; RICEBIRD.

_Emberiza oryzivora_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 311.—GM. I, 1788,

850.—WILSON, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 48, pl. xii, f. 1, 2.

_Passerina oryzivora_, VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. XXV, 1817, 3.

_Dolichonyx oryzivora_, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827,

351.—IB. F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 278.—BON. List, 1838.—IB.

Conspectus, 1850, 437.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 139.—IB. Birds Am. IV,

1842, 10, pl. ccxi.—GOSSE, Birds Jam. 1847, 229.—BAIRD, Birds

N. Am. 1858, 522.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 266.—COOPER, Orn.

Cal. I, 1870, 255.—SAMUELS, 335. _Icterus agripennis_, BONAP.

Obs. Wils. 1824, No. 87. AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 283; V, 1839,

486, pl. liv.—NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 185. _Icterus (Emberizoides)

agripennis_, BON. Syn. 1828, 53. _Dolichonyx agripennis_, RICH.

List, 1837. _Psarocolius caudacutus_, WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827,

32.

[Illustration: _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._]

SP. CHAR. General color of _male_ in spring, black; the nape brownish

cream-color; a patch on the side of the breast, the scapulars, and

rump, white, shading into light ash on the upper tail-coverts and the

back below the interscapular region. The outer primaries sharply

margined with yellowish-white; the tertials less abruptly; the

tail-feathers margined at the tips with pale brownish-ash. In autumn

totally different, resembling the female.

_Female_, yellowish beneath; two stripes on the top of the head, and

the upper parts throughout, except the back of the neck and rump, and

including all the wing-feathers generally, dark brown, all edged with

brownish-yellow, which becomes whiter near the tips of the quills. The

sides sparsely streaked with dark brown, and a similar stripe behind

the eye. There is a superciliary and a median band of yellow on the

head. Length of male, 7.70; wing, 3.83; tail, 3.15.

HAB. Eastern United States to the high Central Plains. North to

Selkirk Settlement, and Ottawa, Canada; and west to Salt Lake Valley,

Utah, and Ruby Valley, Nevada (RIDGWAY); Cuba, winter (CABAN.);

Bahamas (BRYANT); Jamaica (GOSSE, SCL., Oct.; MARCH, Oct., and in

spring); James Island, Galapagos, Oct. (GOULD); Sombrero, W. I.

(LAWRENCE); Brazil (PELZELN); Yucatan.

A female bird from Paraguay (Dec., 1859) is undistinguishable from the

average of northern ones, except by the smaller size. Specimens from

the western plains differ from those taken near the Atlantic Coast in

having the light areas above paler, and less obscured by the grayish

wash so prevalent in the latter; the ochraceous of the nape being very

pale, and at the same time pure.

HABITS. The well-known and familiar Bobolink of North America has, at

different seasons of the year, a remarkably extended distribution. In

its migrations it traverses all of the United States east of the high

central plains to the Atlantic as far to the north as the 54th

parallel, which is believed to be its most northern limit, and which

it reaches in June. In the winter it reaches, in its wandering, the

West Indies, Central America, the northern and even the central

portions of South America. Von Pelzeln obtained Brazilian specimens

from Matogrosso and Rio Madeira in November, and from Marabitanas,

April 4th and 13th. Those procured in April were in their summer or

breeding plumage, suggesting the possibility of their breeding in the

high grounds of South America. Sclater received specimens from Santa

Marta and from Bolivia. Other specimens have been reported as coming

from Rio Negro, Rio Napo, in Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico,

Paraguay, Buenos Ayres, etc.

In North America it breeds from the 42d to the 54th parallel, and in

some parts of the country it is very abundant at this season. The most

southern breeding locality hitherto recorded is the forks of the

Susquehanna River, along the west branch of which, especially in the

Wyoming Valley, it was formerly very abundant.

Mr. Ridgway also observed this bird in Ruby Valley where, among the

wheat-fields, small companies were occasionally seen in August. He was

informed that, near Salt Lake City, these birds are seen in May, and

again late in the summer, when the grain is ripe.

Of all our unimitative and natural songsters the Bobolink is by far

the most popular and attractive. Always original and peculiarly

natural, its song is exquisitely musical. In the variety of its notes,

in the rapidity with which they are uttered, and in the touching

pathos, beauty, and melody of their tone and expression, its notes are

not equalled by those of any other North American bird. We know of

none, among our native feathered songsters, whose song resembles, or

can be compared with it.

In the earliest approaches of spring, in Louisiana, when small flocks

of male Bobolinks make their first appearance, they are said, by Mr.

Audubon, to sing in concert; and their song thus given is at once

exceedingly novel, interesting, and striking. Uttered with a

volubility that even borders upon the burlesque and the ludicrous, the

whole effect is greatly heightened by the singular and striking manner

in which first one singer and then another, one following the other

until all have joined their voices, take up the note and strike in,

after the leader has set the example and given the signal. In this

manner sometimes a party of thirty or forty Bobolinks will begin, one

after the other, until the whole unite in producing an extraordinary

medley, to which no pen can do justice, but which is described as very

pleasant to listen to. All at once the music ceases with a suddenness

not less striking and extraordinary. These concerts are repeated from

time to time, usually as often as the flock alight. This performance

may also be witnessed early in April, in the vicinity of Washington,

the Smithsonian grounds being a favorite place of resort.

By the time these birds have reached, in their spring migrations, the

40th parallel of latitude, they no longer move in large flocks, but

have begun to separate into small parties, and finally into pairs. In

New England the Bobolink treats us to no such concerts as those

described by Audubon, where many voices join in creating their

peculiar jingling melody. When they first appear, usually after the

middle of May, they are in small parties, composed of either sex,

absorbed in their courtships and overflowing with song. When two or

three male Bobolinks, decked out in their gayest spring apparel, are

paying their attentions to the same drab-colored female, contrasting

so strikingly in her sober brown dress, their performances are quite

entertaining, each male endeavoring to outsing the other. The female

appears coy and retiring, keeping closely to the ground, but always

attended by the several aspirants for her affection. After a contest,

often quite exciting, the rivalries are adjusted, the rejected suitors

are driven off by their more fortunate competitor, and the happy pair

begin to put in order a new home. It is in these love-quarrels that

their song appears to the greatest advantage. They pour out

incessantly their strains of quaint but charming music, now on the

ground, now on the wing, now on the top of a fence, a low bush, or the

swaying stalk of a plant that bends with their weight. The great

length of their song, the immense number of short and variable notes

of which it is composed, the volubility and confused rapidity with

which they are poured forth, the eccentric breaks, in the midst of

which we detect the words “bob-o-link” so distinctly enunciated, unite

to form a general result to which we can find no parallel in any of

the musical performances of our other song-birds. It is at once a

unique and a charming production. Nuttall speaks of their song as

monotonous, which is neither true nor consistent with his own

description of it. To other ears they seem ever wonderfully full of

variety, pathos, and beauty.

When their contests are ended, and the mated pair take possession of

their selected meadow, and prepare to construct their nest and rear

their family, then we may find the male bird hovering in the air over

the spot where his homely partner is brooding over her charge. All

this while he is warbling forth his incessant and happy love-song; or

else he is swinging on some slender stalk or weed that bends under

him, ever overflowing with song and eloquent with melody. As domestic

cares and parental responsibilities increase, his song becomes less

and less frequent. After a while it has degenerated into a few short

notes, and at length ceases altogether. The young in due time assume

the development of mature birds, and all wear the sober plumage of the

mother. And now there also appears a surprising change in the

appearance of our gayly attired musician. His showy plumage of

contrasting white and black, so conspicuous and striking, changes with

almost instant rapidity into brown and drab, until he is no longer

distinguishable, either by plumage or note, from his mate or young.

At the north, where the Bobolinks breed, they are not known to molest

the crops, confining their food almost entirely to insects, or the

seeds of valueless weeds, in the consumption of which they confer

benefit, rather than harm. At the south they are accused of injuring

the young wheat as they pass northward in their spring migrations, and

of plundering the rice plantations on their return. About the middle

of August they appear in almost innumerable flocks among the marshes

of the Delaware River. There they are known as Reedbirds. Two weeks

later they begin to swarm among the rice plantations of South

Carolina. There they take the name of Ricebirds. In October they again

pass on southward, and make another halt among the West India Islands.

There they feed upon the seeds of the Guinea-grass, upon which they

become exceedingly fat. In Jamaica they receive a new appellation, and

are called Butterbirds. They are everywhere sought after by sportsmen,

and are shot in immense numbers for the table of the epicure. More

recently it has been ascertained that these birds feed greedily upon

the larvæ of the destructive cotton-worm, and in so doing render an

immense service to the cultivators of Sea Island cotton.

Dr. Bryant, in his visit to the Bahamas, was eye-witness to the

migrations northward of these birds, as they passed through those

islands. He first noted them on the 6th of May, towards sunset. A

number of flocks—he counted nine—were flying to the westward. On the

following day the country was filled with these birds, and men and

boys turned out in large numbers to shoot them. He examined a quantity

of them, and all were males in full plumage. Numerous flocks continued

to arrive that day and the following, which was Sunday. On Monday,

among those that were shot were many females. On Tuesday but few were

to be seen, and on Wednesday they had entirely disappeared.

Near Washington, Dr. Coues observed the Bobolink to be only a spring

and autumnal visitant, from May 1st to the 15th distributed abundantly

about orchards and meadows, generally in flocks. In autumn they

frequented in immense flocks the tracts of _Zizania aquatica_, along

the Potomac, from August 20 to October.

The Bobolink invariably builds its nest upon the ground, usually in a

meadow, and conceals it so well among the standing grass that it is

very difficult of discovery until the grass is cut. The female is very

wary in leaving or in returning to her nest, always alighting upon the

ground, or rising from it, at a distance from her nest. The male bird,

too, if the nest is approached, seeks to decoy off the intruder by his

anxiety over a spot remote from the object of his solicitude. The nest

is of the simplest description, made usually of a few flexible stems

of grasses carefully interwoven into a shallow and compact nest. The

eggs, five or six in number, have a dull white ground, in some tinged

with a light drab, in others with olive. They are generally spotted

and blotched over the entire egg with a rufous-brown, intermingled

with lavender. They are pointed at one end, and measure .90 by .70 of

an inch. They have but one brood in a season.

In some eggs, especially those found in more northern localities, the

ground-color is drab, with a strong tinge of purple. Over this is

diffused a series of obscure lavender-color, and then overlying these

are larger and bolder blotches of wine-colored brown. In a few eggs

long and irregular lines of dark purple, so deep as to be

undistinguishable from black, are added. These eggs are quite pointed

at one end.

GENUS MOLOTHRUS, SWAINSON.

_Molothrus_, SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 277; supposed by

Cabanis to be meant for _Molobrus_. (Type, _Fringilla pecoris_,

GM.)

[Line drawing: _Molothrus pecoris._

32446]

GEN. CHAR. Bill short, stout, about two thirds the length of head; the

commissure straight, culmen and gonys slightly curved, convex, the

former broad, rounded, convex, and running back on the head in a

point. Lateral toes nearly equal, reaching the base of the middle one,

which is shorter than tarsus; claws rather small. Tail nearly even;

wings long, pointed, the first quill longest. As far as known, the

species make no nest, but deposit the eggs in the nests of other,

usually smaller, birds.

The genus _Molothrus_ has the bill intermediate between _Dolichonyx_

and _Agelaius_. It has the culmen unusually broad between the

nostrils, and it extends back some distance into the forehead. The

difference in the structure of the feet from _Dolichonyx_ is very

great.

[Illustration: _Molothrus pecoris._]

Species of _Molothrus_ resemble some of the _Fringillidæ_ more than

any other of the _Icteridæ_. The bill is, however, more straight, the

tip without notch; the culmen running back farther on the forehead,

the nostrils being situated fully one third or more of the total

length from its posterior extremity. This is seldom the case in the

American families. The entire absence of notch in the bill and of

bristles along the rictus are strong features. The nostrils are

perfectly free from any overhanging feathers or bristles. The pointed

wings, with the first quill longest, or nearly equal to second, and

the tail with its broad rounded feathers, shorter than the wings, are

additional features to be specially noted.

Molothrus pecoris, SWAINSON.

COW BLACKBIRD; COWBIRD.

_Fringilla pecoris_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 910

(female).—LATH. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 443.—LICHT. Verzeich.

1823, Nos. 230, 231. _Emberiza pecoris_, WILS. Am. Orn. II,

1810, 145, pl. xviii, f. 1, 2, 3. _Icterus pecoris_, BONAP.

Obs. Wilson, 1824, No. 88.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 493; V,

1839, 233, 490, pls. xcix and ccccxxiv. _Icterus (Emberizoides)

pecoris_, BON. Syn. 1828, 53.—IB. Specchio comp. No.

41.—NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 178, (2d ed.,) 190. _Passerina

pecoris_, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict. XXV, 1819, 22. _Psarocolius

pecoris_, WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 20. _Molothrus pecoris_,

SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 277.—RICH. List, 1837.—BON.

List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850, 436.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 139.—IB.

Birds Am. IV, 1842, 16, pl. ccxii.—CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1851,

193.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 524.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1,

1870, 257.—SAMUELS, 339.—ALLEN, B. Fla. 284. _? Oriolus

fuscus_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 393. _? Sturnus obscurus_,

GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 804 (evidently a _Molothrus_, and

probably, but not certainly, the present species). _Molothrus

obscurus_, CASSIN, Pr. Ph. Ac. 1866, 18 (Mira Flores, L.

Cal.).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 260. “_Icterus

emberizoides_, DAUDIN.” _? Sturnus junceti_, LATH. Ind. I,

1790, 326 (same as _Sturnus obscurus_, GM.). _? Fringilla

ambigua_, NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 484 (young). _Sturnus

nove-hispaniæ_, BRISS. II, 448.

SP. CHAR. Second quill longest; first scarcely shorter. Tail nearly

even, or very slightly rounded. Male with the head, neck, and anterior

half of the breast light chocolate-brown, rather lighter above; rest

of body lustrous black, with a violet-purple gloss next to the brown,

of steel blue on the back, and of green elsewhere. Female light

olivaceous-brown all over, lighter on the head and beneath. Bill and

feet black. Length, 8 inches; wing, 4.42; tail, 3.40.

HAB. United States from the Atlantic to California; not found

immediately on the coast of the Pacific? Orizaba (SCL. 1857, 213);

Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 492); Fort Whipple, Arizona (COUES, P. A.

N. S, 1866, 90); Nevada and Utah (RIDGWAY); Mazatlan, Tehuantepec,

Cape St. Lucas.

The young bird of the year is brown above, brownish-white beneath; the

throat immaculate. A maxillary stripe and obscure streaks thickly

crowded across the whole breast and sides. There is a faint indication

of a paler superciliary stripe. The feathers of the upper parts are

all margined with paler. There are also indications of light bands on

the wings. These markings are all obscure, but perfectly appreciable,

and their existence in adult birds of any species may be considered as

embryonic, and showing an inferiority in degree to the species with

the under parts perfectly plain.

Specimens from the west appear to have a rather longer and narrower

bill than those from the east. Summer birds of Cape St. Lucas and the

Rio Grande are considerably smaller (var. _obscurus_, Cassin). Length

about 6.50; wing, 4.00; tail, 3.00. Some winter skins from the same

region are equal in size to the average.

Birds of this species breeding south of the Rio Grande, as well as

those from Cape St. Lucas, Mazatlan, etc., are very much smaller than

those nesting within the United States; but the transition between the

extremes of size is so gradual that it is almost impossible to strike

an average of characters for two races. The extremes of size in this

species are as follows:—

_Largest._ (11,271, ♂, Fort Bridger.)

Wing, 4.60; tail, 3.35; culmen, .72; tarsus, 1.03.

_Smallest._ (17,297, ♂, Mira Flores, L. C.)

” 3.80; ” 2.65; ” .60; ” .84.

HABITS. The common Cow Blackbird has a very extended distribution from

the Atlantic to California, and from Texas to Canada, and probably to

regions still farther north. They have not been traced to the Pacific

coast, though abundant on that of the Atlantic. Dr. Cooper thinks that

a few winter in the Colorado Valley, and probably also in the San

Joaquin Valley.

This species is at all times gregarious and polygamous, never mating,

and never exhibiting any signs of either conjugal or parental

affections. Like the Cuckoos of Europe, our Cow Blackbird never

constructs a nest of her own, and never hatches out or attempts to

rear her own offspring, but imposes her eggs upon other birds; and

most of these, either unconscious of the imposition or unable to rid

themselves of the alien, sit upon and hatch the stranger, and in so

doing virtually destroy their own offspring,—for the eggs of the

Cowbird are the first hatched, usually two days before the others. The

nursling is much larger in size, filling up a large portion of the

nest, and is insatiable in its appetite, always clamoring to be fed,

and receiving by far the larger share of the food brought to the nest;

its foster-companions, either starved or stifled, soon die, and their

dead bodies are removed, it is supposed, by their parents. They are

never found near the nest, as they would be if the young Cow Blackbird

expelled them as does the Cuckoo; indeed, Mr. Nuttall has seen parent

birds removing the dead young to a distance from the nest, and there

dropping them.

For the most part the Cowbird deposits her egg in the nest of a bird

much smaller than herself, but this is not always the case. I have

known of their eggs having been found in the nests of _Turdus

mustelinus_ and _T. fuscescens_, _Sturnella magna_ and _S. neglecta_.

In each instance they had been incubated. How the young Cowbird

generally fares when hatched in the nests of birds of equal or larger

size, and the fate of the foster-nurslings, is an interesting subject

for investigation. Mr. J. A. Allen saw, in Western Iowa, a female

_Harporhynchus rufus_ feeding a nearly full grown Cowbird,—a very

interesting fact, and the only evidence we now have that these birds

are reared by birds of superior size.

It lays also in the nests of the common Catbird, but the egg never

remains there long after the owner of the nest becomes aware of the

intrusion. The list of the birds in whose nests the Cow Blackbird

deposits her egg and it is reared is very large. The most common

nurses of these foundlings in New England are _Spizella socialis_,

_Empidonax minimus_, _Geothlypis trichas_, and all our eastern

_Vireos_, namely, _olivaceus_, _solitarius_, _noveboracensis_,

_gilvus_, and _flavifrons_. Besides these, I have found their eggs in

the nests of _Polioptila cærulea_, _Mniotilta varia_, _Helminthophaga

ruficapilla_, _Dendroica virens_, _D. blackburniæ_, _D. pennsylvanica_

and _D. discolor_, _Seiurus aurocapillus_, _Setophaga ruticilla_,

_Cyanospiza cyanea_, _Contopus virens_, etc. I have also known of

their eggs having been found in the nests of _Vireo belli_ and _V.

pusillus_, and _Cyanospiza amœna_. Dr. Cooper has found their egg in

the nest of _Icteria virens_; and Mr. T. H. Jackson of West Chester,

Penn., in those of _Empidonax acadicus_ and _Pyranga rubra_.

Usually not more than a single Cowbird’s egg is found in the same

nest, though it is not uncommon to find two; and in a few instances

three and even four eggs have been met with. In one instance Mr.

Trippe mentions having found in the nest of a Black and White Creeper,

besides three eggs of the owner of the nest, no less than five of the

parasite. Mr. H. S. Rodney reports having found, in Potsdam, N. Y.,

May 15, 1868, a nest of _Zonotrichia leucophrys_ of two stories, in

one of which was buried a Cowbird’s egg, and in the upper there were

two more of the same, with three eggs of the rightful owners. In the

spring of 1869 the same gentleman found a nest of the _Sayornis

fuscus_ with three Cowbird’s eggs and three of her own.

Mr. Vickary, of Lynn, found, in the spring of 1860, the nest of a

_Seiurus aurocapillus_, in which, with only one egg of the rightful

owner, there were no less than four of the Cowbird. All five eggs were

perfectly fresh, and had not been set upon. In the summer of the

preceding year the same gentleman found a nest of the Red-eyed Vireo

containing three eggs of the Vireo and four of the Cow Blackbird.

How the offspring from these eggs may all fare when more than one of

these voracious nurslings are hatched in the same nest, is an

interesting problem, well worthy the attention of some patiently

inquiring naturalist to solve.

The Cow Blackbird appears in New England with a varying degree of

promptness, sometimes as early as the latter part of March, and as

frequently not until the middle of April. Nuttall states that none are

seen in Massachusetts after the middle of June until the following

October, and Allen, that they are there all the summer. My own

observations do not correspond with the statement of either of these

gentlemen. They certainly do become quite rare in the eastern part of

that State after the third week in June, but that all the females are

not gone is proved by the constant finding of freshly laid eggs up to

July 1. I have never been able to find a Cow Blackbird in Eastern

Massachusetts between the first of July and the middle of September.

This I attribute to the absence of sufficient food. In the Cambridge

marshes they remain until all the seeds have been consumed, and only

reappear when the new crop is edible.

This Blackbird is a general feeder, eating insects, apparently in

preference, and wild seed. They derive their name of Cow Blackbird

from their keeping about that animal, and finding, either from her

parasitic insects or her droppings, opportunities for food. They feed

on the ground, and occasionally scratch for insects. At the South, to

a limited extent, they frequent the rice-fields in company with the

Redwinged Blackbird.

Mr. Nuttall states that if a Cow Blackbird’s egg is deposited in a

nest alone it is uniformly forsaken, and he also enumerates the Summer

Yellowbird as one of the nurses of the Cowbird. In both respects I

think he is mistaken. So far from forsaking her nest when one of these

eggs is deposited, the Red-eyed Vireo has been known to commence

incubation without having laid any of her own eggs, and also to

forsake her nest when the intrusive egg has been taken and her own

left. The _D. æstiva_, I think, invariably covers up and destroys the

Cowbird’s eggs when deposited before her own, and even when deposited

afterwards.

The Cow Blackbird has no attractions as a singer, and has nothing that

deserves the name of song. His utterances are harsh and unmelodious.

In September they begin to collect in large flocks, in localities

favorable for their sustenance. The Fresh Pond marshes in Cambridge

were once one of their chosen places of resort, in which they seemed

to collect late in September, as if coming from great distances. There

they remained until late in October, when they passed southward.

Mr. Ridgway only met with this species in two places, the valley of

the Humboldt in September, and in June in the Truckee Valley. Their

eggs were also obtained in the Wahsatch Mountains, deposited in the

nest of _Passerella schistacea_, and in Bear River Valley in the nest

of _Geothlypis trichas_.

Mr. Boardman informs me that the Cow Blackbird is a very rare bird in

the neighborhood of Calais, Me., so much so that he does not see one

of these birds once in five years, even as a bird of passage.

The eggs of this species are of a rounded oval, though some are more

oblong than others, and are nearly equally rounded at either end. They

vary from .85 of an inch to an inch in length, and from .65 to .70 in

breadth. Their ground-color is white. In some it is so thickly covered

with fine dottings of ashy and purplish-brown that the ground is not

distinguishable. In others the egg is blotched with bold dashes of

purple and wine-colored brown.

On the Rio Grande the eggs of the smaller southern race were found in

the nests of _Vireo belli_, and in each of the nests of the _Vireo

pusillus_ found near Camp Grant, Arizona, there was an egg of this

species. At Cape St. Lucas, Mr. Xantus found their eggs in nests of

the _Polioptila melanura_. We have no information in regard to their

habits, and can only infer that they must be substantially the same as

those of the northern birds.

The eggs of the var. _obscurus_ exhibit a very marked variation in

size from those of the var. _pecoris_, and have a different

appearance, though their colors are nearly identical. Their

ground-color is white, and their markings a claret-brown. These

markings are fewer, smaller, and less generally distributed, and the

ground-color is much more apparent. They measure .60 by .55 of an

inch, and their capacity as compared with the eggs of the _pecoris_ is

as 33 to 70,—a variation that is constant, and apparently too large

to be accounted for on climatic differences.

GENUS AGELAIUS, VIEILL.

_Agelaius_, VIEILLOT, “Analyse, 1816.” (Type, _Oriolus phœniceus_, L.)

[Line drawing: _Agelaius phœniceus._

1386]

GEN. CHAR. First quill shorter than second; claws short; the outer

lateral scarcely reaching the base of the middle. Culmen depressed at

base, parting the frontal feathers; length equal to that of the head,

shorter than tarsus. Both mandibles of equal thickness and acute at

tip, the edges much curved, the culmen, gonys, and commissure nearly

straight or slightly sinuated; the length of bill about twice its

height. Tail moderate, rounded, or very slightly graduated. Wings

pointed, reaching to end of lower tail-coverts. Colors black with red

shoulders in North American species. One West Indian with orange-buff.

Females streaked except in two West Indian species.

[Illustration: _Agelaius phœniceus._]

The nostrils are small, oblong, overhung by a membranous scale. The

bill is higher than broad at the base. There is no division between

the anterior tarsal scutellæ and the single plate on the outside of

the tarsus.

The females of two West Indian species are uniform black. Of these the

male of one, _A. assimilis_ of Cuba, is undistinguishable from that of

_A. phœniceus_; and in fact we may without impropriety consider the

former as a melanite race of the latter, the change appreciable only

in the female. The _A. humeralis_, also of Cuba, is smaller, and

black, with the lesser coverts brownish orange-buff.

Species and Varieties.

COMMON CHARACTERS. _Males_ glossy black without distinct

bluish lustre, lesser wing-coverts bright red. _Females_

without any red, and either wholly black or variegated with

light streaks, most conspicuous below.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXIII.

1. Agelaius phœniceus. ♂ Pa., 1386.

2. ” ” ♀ Pa., 2174.

3. ” ” ♂ shoulder.

4. ” gubernator. ♂ shoulder.

5. ” tricolor. ♂ shoulder.

6. ” tricolor. ♂ Cal., 2836.

7. ” ” ♀ Cal., 5532.

8. ” gubernator. ♀ Cal., 5530.

9. Xanthocephalus icterocephalus. ♀ Kansas, 6557.]

A. phœniceus. Tail rounded. Red of shoulders a bright

scarlet tint. Black of plumage without bluish lustre.

_Females_ with wing-coverts edged with brownish, or

without any light edgings at all.

_a._ Female continuous deep black, unvariegated.

_Middle wing-coverts wholly buff in male._

Wing, 4.40; tail, 3.80; culmen, .95; tarsus, 1.00.

_Hab._ Cuba.

_b._ Females striped beneath var. _assimilis_.[30]

Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.85; culmen, .96; tarsus, 1.10.

_Female._ White stripes on lower parts exceeding the

dusky ones in width; a conspicuous lighter

superciliary stripe, and one strongly indicated on

middle of the crown. _Hab._ Whole of North America,

south to Guatemala var. _phœniceus_.

_Middle wing-coverts black, except at base._

Wing, 5.00; tail, 3.90; culmen, .90; tarsus, 1.10.

_Female._ White stripes on lower parts narrower than

dusky ones; the posterior portion beneath being almost

continuously dusky. No trace of median stripe on

crown, and the superciliary one indistinct. _Hab._

Pacific Province of United States, south through

Western Mexico var. _gubernator_.

_Middle wing-coverts wholly white in male._

B. tricolor. Tail square. Red of the shoulders a

brownish-scarlet, or burnt-carmine tint. Black of the

plumage (both sexes at all ages) with a silky bluish

lustre. _Female_ with wing-coverts edged with pure white.

Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.70; culmen, .97; tarsus, 1.13.

_Female._ Like that of _gubernator_, but with scarcely

any brownish tinge to the plumage, and the lesser

wing-coverts sharply bordered with pure white. _Hab._

California (only ?).

[30] _Agelaius assimilis_, GUNDL. CABANIS, Journal, IX, 12

(nest).—IB. Boston Journal, VI, 1853, 316.

Agelaius phœniceus, VIEILLOT.

SWAMP BLACKBIRD; REDWING BLACKBIRD.

_Oriolus phœniceus_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 161.—GMELIN, I,

1788, 386.—LATH. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 428. _Agelaius phœniceus_,

“VIEILLOT, Anal. 1816.”—SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831,

280.—BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850, 430.—AUD. Syn.

1839, 141.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 31, pl. ccxvi.—BAIRD,

Birds N. Am. 1858, 526.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 263.—COOPER &

SUCKLEY, 207.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 261.—SAMUELS,

341.—_Allen_, Birds E. Fla. 284. _Icterus phœniceus_, LICHT.

Verz. 1823, No. 188.—BON. Obs. Wils. 1824, No. 68.—AUD. Orn.

Biog. I, 1831, 348; V, 1839, 487, pl. lxvii. _Psarocolius

phœniceus_, WAGLER, Syst. Nat. 1827, No. 10. _Icterus

(Xanthornus) phœniceus_, BONAP. Syn. 1828, 52.—NUTTALL, Man.

I, 1832, 167, (2d ed.,) 179. _Sturnus prædatorius_, WILSON, Am.

Orn. IV, 1811, 30, pl. xxx. _Redwinged Oriole_, PENNANT, Arctic

Zoöl. II, 255.

SP. CHAR. Tail much rounded; the lateral feathers about half an inch

shorter. Fourth quill longest; first about as long as the fifth. Bill

large, stout; half as high, or more than half as high, as long.

_Male._ General color uniform lustrous velvet-black, with a greenish

reflection. Shoulders and lesser wing-coverts of a bright crimson or

vermilion-red. Middle coverts brownish-yellow, or buff, and usually

paler towards the tips.

_Female._ Brown above, the feathers edged or streaked with

rufous-brown and yellowish; beneath white, streaked with brown.

Forepart of throat, superciliary, and median stripe strongly tinged

with brownish-yellow. Length of male, 9.50; wing, 5.00; tail, 4.15.

HAB. United States from Atlantic to Pacific; north to Great Slave

Lake, Fort Resolution, Fort Simpson, Fort Rae, etc.; Guatemala

(SCLATER, Ibis I, 19; breeding); Costa Rica (LAWRENCE, America, N. Y.

Lyc. IX, 104); Bahamas (BRYANT, B. P. VII, 1859); Texas (DRESSER,

Ibis, 65, 492); Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 90; Fort Whipple);

Yucatan.

There is some variation in the shade of red on the shoulders, which is

sometimes of the color of arterial blood or bright crimson. It never,

however, has the hæmatitic tint of the red in _A. tricolor_. The

middle coverts are usually uniform brownish-yellow to the very tips;

sometimes some of these middle coverts are tipped at the end with

black, but these black tips are usually of slight extent, and indicate

immaturity, or else a transition of hybridism or race to _A.

gubernator_.

There is also some variation in the size and proportions of the bill.

The most striking is in a series of three from the Red River

Settlement, decidedly larger than more southern ones (wings, 5.15;

tail, 4.40). The bill is about as long as that of Pennsylvania

specimens, but much stouter, the thickness at the base being

considerably more than half the length of the culmen. One specimen

from San Elizario, Texas, has the bill of much the same size and

proportions.

The male of _A. assimilis_ of Cuba cannot be distinguished from

small-sized males of _phœniceus_ from the United States, the females,

however, as in nearly all West Indian _Icteridæ_, are uniform though

rather dull black. This we consider as simply a local variation of

melanism, not indicating a specific difference. A young male is

similar, but with the lesser coverts red, tipped with black. On the

other extreme, streaked female and young birds from Lower California,

Arizona, and Western Mexico are much lighter than in eastern birds,

the chin, throat, jugulum, and superciliary stripe tinged with a

peculiar peach-blossom pink; not buff, sometimes tinged with orange.

HABITS. The much abused and persecuted Redwinged Blackbird is found

throughout North America as far north as the 57th parallel, from the

Atlantic to the Pacific; and it breeds more or less abundantly

wherever found, from Florida and Texas to the plains of the

Saskatchewan. According to the observations of Mr. Salvin, it is

resident all the year in Guatemala. It breeds among the reeds at the

lake of Dueñas, deferring its incubation until the month of June. The

females congregate in large flocks near the lake, feeding about the

swampy grass on the edge of the water, the males keeping separate. At

Orizaba, Mexico, Sumichrast regarded this species as only a bird of

passage.

On the Pacific coast, it is only found, in any numbers, in Washington

Territory and in Oregon, about cultivated tracts. Dr. Cooper thinks

that none inhabit the bare and mountainous prairie regions east of the

Cascade Mountains. Small flocks wintered at Vancouver about stables

and haystacks. Dr. Suckley speaks of them as quite common west of the

Cascade Mountains, arriving from the South in March. In all the marshy

places of the entire West Mr. Ridgway met with this species and their

nests in great abundance. In all respects he found the western birds

identical with the eastern. Their nests were in low bushes in

overflowed meadows.

Donald Gunn found this species common in the Red River Settlements;

and Richardson met with them on the Saskatchewan, where they arrive in

May, but do not breed until the 20th of June.

In New England this Blackbird is generally migratory, though instances

are on record where a few have been known to remain throughout the

winter in Massachusetts. They are among the earliest to arrive in

spring, coming, in company with the Rusty Grakle, as early as the 10th

of March. Those which remain to breed usually come a month later. They

breed throughout New England, as also in New Brunswick and Nova

Scotia.

It is equally abundant and resident in Arizona and Texas, and in the

adjoining portions of Mexico. On the Rio Grande, Mr. Dresser found it

very abundant, breeding on the banks of the rivers and streams. In the

winter season these birds are found in immense flocks in the lower

parts of Virginia, both the Carolinas, and all the Gulf States,

particularly near the sea-coast and among old fields of rice and

grain. Wilson states that once, passing, in January, through the lower

counties of Virginia, he frequently witnessed the aerial evolutions of

great bodies of these birds. Sometimes they appeared as if driven

about like an enormous black cloud carried before the wind, varying

every moment in shape. Sometimes they rose up suddenly from the fields

with a noise like thunder, while the glittering of innumerable wings

of the brightest vermilion, amid the black cloud, occasioned a very

striking effect. At times the whole congregated multitude would

suddenly alight in some detached grove and commence one general

concert, that he could plainly distinguish at the distance of more

than two miles, and when listened to at a distance of a quarter of a

mile, the flow of its cadences was grand, and even sublime.

He adds that with the Redwings the whole winter season seems one

continued carnival. They find abundant food in the old fields of rice,

buckwheat, and grain, and much of their time is spent in aerial

movements, or in grand vocal performances.

Early in March these large assemblies break up. A part separate in

pairs and remain among the Southern swamps. The greater portion, in

smaller flocks, the male bird leading the way, commence their

movements northward. Late in April they have all re-established

themselves in their chosen haunts, have mated, and are preparing to

make their nests. In Pennsylvania this is done in May, in New England

early in June, and farther north a fortnight later. For their nest

they invariably select either the borders of streams or low marshy

situations. These they usually place in low bushes, such as grow in

moist situations, among thick bunches of reeds, or even on the ground.

In one instance, in an island on the marshes of Essex River, Mr.

Maynard found these nests placed in trees twenty feet from the ground.

One nest was built on a slender sapling at the distance of fourteen

feet from the ground. The nest was pensile, like that of the Baltimore

Oriole. It was woven of bleached eel-grass.

When built in a bush, the outer, basket-like frame of the nest is

carefully and strongly interwoven with, or fastened around, the

adjacent twigs, and, though somewhat rudely put together, is woven

firmly and compactly. Within this is packed a mass of coarse

materials, with an inner nest of sedges and grasses. The outer

framework is usually made of rushes and strong leaves of the iris. The

male bird is a very attentive and watchful parent, constantly on the

lookout for the approach of danger, and prompt to do all in his power

to avert it, approaching close to the intruder, and earnestly

remonstrating against the aggression. If the nest is pillaged, for

several days he evinces great distress, and makes frequent

lamentations, but soon prepares to remedy the disaster. So tenacious

are they of a selected locality, that I have known the same pair to

build three nests within as many weeks in the same bush, after having

been robbed twice. The third time the pair succeeded in raising their

brood.

In New England these birds have but one brood in a season. Farther

south they are said to have three or more. In August they begin to

collect in small flocks largely composed of young birds. The latter do

not reach their full plumage until their third summer, but breed in

their immature plumage the summer following their appearance. When the

Indian corn is in the milk, these birds are said to collect in

numbers, and to commit great depredations upon it. As soon, however,

as the corn hardens, they desist from these attacks, and seek other

food. In the grain-growing States they gather in immense swarms and

commit great havoc, and although they are shot in immense numbers, and

though their ranks are thinned by the attacks of hawks, it seems to

have but little effect upon the survivors. These scenes of pillage

are, for the most part, confined to the low sections, near the

sea-coast, and only last during a short period, when the corn is in a

condition to be eaten.

On the other hand, these Blackbirds more than compensate the farmer

for these brief episodes of mischief, by the immense benefits they

confer in the destruction of grub-worms, caterpillars, and various

kinds of larvæ, the secret and deadly enemies of vegetation. During

the months of March, April, May, June, and July, their food is almost

wholly insects, and during that period the amount of their insect

food, all of it of the most noxious kinds, is perfectly enormous.

These they both consume themselves and feed to their young. Wilson

estimated the number of insects destroyed by these birds in a single

season, in the United States, at twelve thousand millions.

The notes of this bird are very various and indescribable. The most

common one sounds like _con-cur-ee_. But there is also an almost

endless mingling of guttural, creaking, or clear utterances that defy

description.

Their eggs vary greatly in size; the largest measures 1.08 inches by

.82 of an inch, the smallest .90 by .65. They average about an inch in

length and .77 of an inch in breadth. They are oval in shape, have a

light-bluish ground, and are marbled, lined, and blotched with

markings of light and dark purple and black. These markings are almost

wholly about the larger end, and are very varying.

Agelaius phœniceus, var. gubernator, BON.

CRIMSON-SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD.

_Psarocolius gubernator_, WAGLER, Isis, 1832, iv, 281. _Agelaius

gubernator_, BON. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 430.—AUD.

Syn. 1839, 141.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 29, pl.

ccxv.—NEWBERRY, P. R. R. Rep. VI, IV, 1857, 86.—BAIRD, Birds

N. Am. 1858, 529.—HEERM. X, S, 53 (nest).—COOPER, Orn. Cal.

I, 1870, 263. _Icterus_ (_Zanthornus_) _gubernator_, NUTTALL,

Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 187.

SP. CHAR. Bill rather shorter than the head, without any longitudinal

sulci, but with faint traces of transverse ones at the base of the

lower jaw. Tail rounded. First quill nearly equal to the fourth.

_Male._ Throughout of a lustrous velvety-black, with a greenish

reflection. The lesser coverts rich crimson; the middle coverts

brownish-yellow at the base, but the exposed portion black. Wing,

5.00; tail, 3.90; culmen, .90; tarsus, 1.10.

_Female._ Nearly uniform dark slaty-brown; an indistinct superciliary

stripe, an indication of a maxillary stripe, and blended streaks on

chin and throat delicate pale peach-blossom pink, this on the jugulum

interrupted by dusky streaks running in longitudinal series; lesser

wing-coverts tinged with dark wine-red. Wings with just appreciable

paler edges to the feathers. Wing, 4.20; tail, 3.20.

HAB. Pacific Province of United States, and Western Mexico, to Colima;

Western Nevada (RIDGWAY). ? Xalapa (SCLATER, 1859, 365).

In the female and all the immature stages, the dusky beneath is

largely in excess of the light streaks; the superciliary light stripe

is badly defined, and there is no trace of a median light stripe on

the crown. These characters distinguish this race from _phœniceus_;

while the rounded instead of square tail, and brown instead of pure

white border to middle wing-coverts, distinguish it from corresponding

stages of _tricolor_.

HABITS. The Crimson-shouldered Blackbird was first met with by Mr.

Townsend, on the Columbia River, where two specimens were obtained,

which were described by Mr. Audubon, in his Synopsis, in 1839. No

information in regard to its habits, distribution, or nesting, was

obtained by either Mr. Townsend or by his companion, Mr. Nuttall.

This species, or local race, whichever it is considered, occurs from

the Columbia River south throughout California. It is given doubtingly

as also from the Colorado River, but Dr. Cooper was only able to

detect there the common _phœniceus_. According to the observations of

that careful naturalist, this species is chiefly found in the warmer

interior of California, Santa Cruz being the only point on the coast

where he has met with it. He found it in scattered pairs, in May,

throughout the Coast Range, even to the summits, where there are small

marshes full of rushes, in which they build. He has not been able to

detect any difference between the habits and notes of this bird and

the common Redwing. The fact that specimens with entirely red

shoulders seem limited to the middle of the State, or are rare along

the coast, while most of those on the coast closely resemble the

eastern bird, Dr. Cooper regards as suggestive of its being only a

local race, though said to occur also in Mexico.

During the summer this species is said to emit a variety of sweet and

liquid notes, delivered from some tree near its favorite marsh. These

are also sometimes mingled with jingling and creaking sounds.

Dr. Suckley, in his Report on the Zoölogy of Washington Territory,

expresses the opinion, that, although a specimen of this bird is

reported as having been taken by Townsend on the Columbia, it is very

rarely found so far north, as he never met with it in Washington

Territory, and has never been able to hear of any other specimen

having been found there.

Dr. Kennerly, in his Report on the birds observed in the survey of the

35th parallel, states that during the march along Bill Williams Fork,

and along the Great Colorado and the Mohave Rivers, this species was

found quite numerous. They were more abundant still along the creeks

and swampy grounds that were passed as they approached the settlements

of California. Large flocks could there be seen whirling around in

graceful curves, like dark clouds, chattering joyfully as they moved

along, or settling as a black veil on the topmost branches of some

tree, indulging loudly in their harsh music.

In his Report of the birds observed in the survey under Lieutenant

Williamson, Dr. Heermann mentions finding this species abundant, and,

in the fall season, as associated with _Molothrus pecoris_ and _A.

tricolor_. Its nest he found built in the willow bushes and tussocks

of grass above the level of the water, in the marshes. There were but

a few pairs together, and in this respect they differ from the

_tricolor_, which prefers dry situations near water, and which

congregate by thousands while breeding. The nest was composed of mud

and fine roots, and lined with fine grasses. The eggs, four in number,

he describes as pale blue, dashed with spots and lines of black.

Neither this nor the _tricolor_ was detected by Dr. Coues in Arizona.

These Blackbirds were found by Mr. Ridgway abundant in the marshy

regions of California, but they were rarely met with east of the

Sierra Nevada. A few individuals were collected in Nevada in the

valley of the Truckee. A few pairs were found breeding among the

_tulé_ sloughs and marshes. The nests found in the Truckee

Reservations were built in low bushes in wet meadows.

A nest procured by Dr. Cooper from the summit of the Coast Range was

built of grass and rushes, and lined with finer grass. The eggs are

described as pale greenish-white, with large curving streaks and spots

of dark brown, mostly at the large end. They are said to measure one

inch by .75 of an inch.

Eggs of this variety in my cabinet, taken in California by Dr.

Heermann, are of a rounded-oval shape, nearly equally obtuse at either

end, and varying in length from .90 of an inch to an inch, and in

breadth from .70 to .80. Their ground-color is a light blue, fading

into a bluish-white, marked only around the larger end with waving

lines of dark brown, much lighter in shade than the markings of the

_phœniceus_ usually are.

Agelaius tricolor, BONAP.

RED AND WHITE SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD.

_Icterus tricolor_, “NUTTALL,” AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, I, pl.

ccclxxxviii.—NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 186. _Agelaius

tricolor_, BON. List, 1838.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 141.—IB. Birds

Am. IV, 1842, 27, pl. ccxiv.—HEERM. X, S, 53 (nest).—BAIRD,

Birds N. Am. 1858, 530.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 265.

SP. CHAR. Tail nearly even. Second and third quills longest; first a

little shorter than the fourth. Bill slender, not half as high as

long.

_Male._ General color uniform lustrous velvet-black, with a strong

silky-bluish reflection. Shoulders and lesser wing-coverts

brownish-red, of much the color of venous blood; the median coverts of

a well-defined and nearly pure white, with sometimes a brownish tinge.

Wing, 4.90; tail, 3.70; culmen, .97; tarsus, 1.13.

_Female._ General color dusky slaty-brown, faintly variegated on head

also by lighter streaks; middle wing-coverts broadly and sharply

bordered with pure white. An obsolete superciliary and maxillary

stripe of grayish-white. Beneath grayish-white for anterior half, with

narrow streaks of dusky, this color gradually prevailing posteriorly,

the sides, flanks, and crissum being nearly uniform dusky. Wing, 4.25;

tail, 3.20.

HAB. Pacific Province of United States, from Columbia River southward,

not yet found out of California and Oregon.

Immature males sometimes have the white on the wing tinged with

brownish-yellow, as in _A. phœniceus_. The red, however, has the usual

brownish-orange shade so much darker and duller than the brilliantly

scarlet shoulders of the other species, and the black has that soft

bluish lustre peculiar to the species. The relationships generally

between the two species are very close, but the bill, as stated, is

slenderer and more sulcate in _tricolor_, the tail much more nearly

even; the first primary longer, usually nearly equal to or longer than

the fourth, instead of the fifth.

Two strong features of coloration distinguish the female and immature

stages of this species from _gubernator_ and _phœniceus_. They are,

first, the soft bluish gloss of the males, both adult and immature;

and secondly, the clear white and broad, not brown and narrow, borders

to the middle wing-coverts.

HABITS. The Red and White shouldered Blackbird was seen by Mr. Ridgway

among the _tulé_ in the neighborhood of Sacramento City, where it was

very abundant, associating with the _A. phœniceus_ and _gubernator_,

and the Yellow-headed Blackbird. The conspicuous white stripe on the

wings of this bird renders it easily recognizable from the other

species, where they are all seen together. Mr. Ridgway is of the

opinion that the notes of the white-shouldered species differ very

considerably from those of the two other Blackbirds.

Dr. Heermann found this a very abundant bird in California. He states

that during the winter of 1852, when hunting in the marshes of Suisan

Valley, he had often, on hearing a dull, rushing, roaring noise, found

that it was produced by a single flock of this species, numbering so

many thousands as to darken the sky for some distance by their masses.

In the northern part of California he met with a breeding-place of

this species that occupied several acres, covered with alder-bushes

and willow, and was in the immediate vicinity of water. The nests,

often four or five in the same bush, were composed of mud and straw,

and lined with fine grasses. The eggs he describes as dark blue,

marked with lines and spots of dark umber and a few light purple

dashes. Dr. Heermann, at different times, fell in with several other

breeding-places of this species, similarly situated, but they had all

been abandoned, from which he inferred that each year different

grounds are resorted to by these birds for the purposes of incubation.

Dr. Kennerly obtained a specimen of this bird on the Colorado River,

in California, December, 1854. Dr. Cooper is of the opinion that it

is, nevertheless, a rare species in that valley. The latter found them

the most abundant species near San Diego and Los Angeles, and not rare

at Santa Barbara. North of the last place they pass more into the

interior, and extend up as far as Klamath Lake and Southern Oregon.

They are to be seen in considerable flocks even in the

breeding-season. Their song, Dr. Cooper states, is not so loud and is

more guttural than are those of the other species. Their habits are

otherwise very similar, and they associate, in fall and winter, in

immense flocks in the interior, though often also found separate.

These birds were first obtained by Mr. Nuttall near Santa Barbara, in

the month of April. They were very common there, as well as at

Monterey. He observed no difference in their habits from those of the

common Redwing, except that they occurred in much larger flocks and

kept apart from that species. They were seldom seen, except in the

near suburbs of the towns. At that time California was in the

possession of Mexico, and its inhabitants were largely occupied in the

slaughter of wild cattle for the sake of the hides. Mr. Nuttall found

these birds feeding almost exclusively on the maggots of the

flesh-flies generated in the offal thus created. They were in large

whirling flocks, and associated with the _Molothri_, the Grakles, the

Redwings, and the Yellow-headed Blackbirds. They kept up an incessant

chatter and a discordant, confused warble, much more harsh and

guttural than even the notes of the Cow Blackbird.

Two eggs of this species, obtained by Dr. Heermann in California, and

now in my cabinet, measuring an inch in length by .67 of an inch in

breadth, are more oblong in shape than the preceding, but nearly

equally obtuse at either end. They are similar in ground-color to the

_phœniceus_, but are of a slightly deeper shade of blue, and are

marked around one end with a ring of dark slaty-brown, almost black,

lines, and irregular oblong blotches.

GENUS XANTHOCEPHALUS, BONAP.

_Xanthocephalus_, BONAP. Conspectus, 1850, 431. (Type, _Icterus

icterocephalus_, BONAP.)

[Line drawing: _Xanthocephalus icterocephalus._

3912]

GEN. CHAR. Bill conical, the length about twice the height; the

outlines nearly straight. Claws all very long; much curved; the inner

lateral the longest, reaching beyond the middle of the middle claw.

Tail narrow, nearly even, the outer web scarcely widening to the end.

Wings long, much longer than the tail; the first quill longest.

This genus differs from typical _Agelaius_ in much longer and more

curved claws, even tail, and first quill longest, instead of the

longest being the second, third, or fourth. The yellow head and black

body are also strong marks.

Xanthocephalus icterocephalus, BAIRD.

YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

_Icterus icterocephalus_, BONAP. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 27, pl.

iii.—NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 176.—IB., (2d ed.,) 187 (not

_Oriolus icterocephalus_, LINN.). _Agelaius icterocephalus_,

CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1851, 188. _Icterus_ (_Xanthornus_)

_xanthocephalus_, BONAP. J. A. N. Sc. V, II, Feb. 1826,

222.—IB. Syn. 1828, 52. _Icterus xanthocephalus_, AUD. Orn.

Biog. V, 1839, 6, pl. ccclxxxviii. _Agelaius xanthocephalus_,

SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 281.—BON. List, 1838.—AUD.

Syn. 1839, 140.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 24, pl.

ccxiii.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. and Or. Route; Rep. P. R. R.

Surv. VI, IV, 1857, 86.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 361.—HEERM. X,

S, 52 (nest). _Agelaius longipes_, SWAINSON, Phil. Mag. I,

1827, 436. _Psarocolius perspicillatus_, “LICHT.” WAGLER, Isis,

1829. VII, 753. _Icterus perspicillatus_, “LICHT. in Mus.”

WAGLER, as above. _Xanthocephalus perspicillatus_, BONAP.

Consp. 1850, 431. _Icterus frenatus_, LICHT. Isis, 1843,

59.—REINHARDT, in Kroyer’s Tidskrift, IV.—IB. Vidensk.

Meddel. for 1853, 1854, 82 (Greenland). _Xanthocephalus

icterocephalus_, BAIRD, M. B. II, Birds, 18; Birds N. Am. 1858,

531.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 267.

SP. CHAR. First quill nearly as long as the second and third

(longest), decidedly longer than the fourth. Tail rounded, or slightly

graduated. General color black, including the inner surface of wings

and axillaries, base of lower mandible all round, feathers adjacent to

nostrils, lores, upper eyelids, and remaining space around the eye.

The head and neck all round; the forepart of the breast, extending

some distance down on the median line, and a somewhat hidden space

round the anus, yellow. A conspicuous white patch at the base of the

wing formed by the spurious feathers, interrupted by the black alula.

_Female_ smaller, browner; the yellow confined to the under parts and

sides of the head, and a superciliary line. A dusky maxillary line. No

white on the wing. Length of male, 10 inches; wing, 5.60; tail, 4.50.

[Illustration: _Xanthocephalus icterocephalus._]

HAB. Western America from Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and North Red

River, to California, south into Mexico; Greenland (REINHARDT); Cuba

(CABANIS, J. VII, 1859, 350); Massachusetts (MAYNARD, D. C. Mass.

1870, 122); Volusia, Florida (Mus. S. I.); Cape St. Lucas.

The color of the yellow in this species varies considerably; sometimes

being almost of a lemon-yellow, sometimes of a rich orange. There is

an occasional trace of yellow around the base of the tarsus. Immature

males show every gradation between the colors of the adult male and

female.

A very young bird (4,332, Dane Co., Wis.) is dusky above, with

feathers of the dorsal region broadly tipped with ochraceous, lesser

and middle wing-coverts white tinged with fulvous, dusky below the

surface, greater coverts very broadly tipped with fulvous-white;

primary coverts narrowly tipped with the same. Whole lower parts

unvariegated fulvous-white; head all round plain ochraceous, deepest

above.

HABITS. The Yellow-headed Blackbird is essentially a prairie bird, and

is found in all favorable localities from Texas on the south to

Illinois and Wisconsin, and thence to the Pacific. A single specimen

is recorded as having been taken in Greenland. This was September 2,

1820, at Nenortalik. Recently the Smithsonian Museum has received a

specimen from New Smyrna, in Florida. In October, 1869, a specimen of

this bird was taken in Watertown, Mass., and Mr. Cassin mentions the

capture of several near Philadelphia. These erratic appearances in

places so remote from their centres of reproduction, and from their

route in emigration, sufficiently attest the nomadic character of this

species.

They are found in abundance in all the grassy meadows or rushy marshes

of Illinois and Wisconsin, where they breed in large communities. In

swamps overgrown with tall rushes, and partially overflowed, they

construct their nests just above the water, and build them around the

stems of these water-plants, where they are thickest, in such a manner

that it is difficult to discover them, except by diligent search,

aided by familiarity with their habits.

In Texas Mr. Dresser met with a few in the fall, and again in April he

found the prairies covered with these birds. For about a week vast

flocks remained about the town, after which they suddenly disappeared,

and no more were seen.

In California, Dr. Cooper states that they winter in large numbers in

the middle districts, some wandering to the Colorado Valley and to San

Diego. They nest around Santa Barbara, and thence northward, and are

very abundant about Klamath Lake. They associate with the other

Blackbirds, but always keep in separate companies. They are very

gregarious, even in summer.

Dr. Cooper states that the only song the male attempts consists of a

few hoarse, chuckling notes and comical squeakings, uttered as if it

was a great effort to make any sound at all.

Dr. Coues speaks of it as less numerous in Arizona than at most other

localities where found at all. He speaks of it as a summer resident,

but in this I think he may have been mistaken.

In Western Iowa Mr. Allen saw a few, during the first week in July,

about the grassy ponds near Boonesboro’. He was told that they breed

in great numbers, north and east of that section, in the meadows of

the Skunk River country. He also reports them as breeding in large

numbers in the Calumet marshes of Northern Illinois.

Sir John Richardson found these birds very numerous in the interior of

the fur countries, ranging in summer as far to the north as the 58th

parallel, but not found to the eastward of Lake Winnipeg. They reached

the Saskatchewan by the 20th of May, in greater numbers than the

Redwings.

Through California, as well as in the interior, Mr. Ridgway found the

Yellow-headed Blackbird a very abundant species, even exceeding in

numbers the _A. phœniceus_, occurring in the marshes filled with

rushes. This species he found more gregarious than the Redwing, and

frequently their nests almost filled the rushes of their

breeding-places. Its notes he describes as harsher than those of any

other bird he is acquainted with. Yet they are by no means

disagreeable, while frequently their attempts at a song were really

amusing. Their usual note is a deep _cluck_, similar to that of most

Blackbirds, but of a rather deeper tone. In its movements upon the

ground its gait is firm and graceful, and it may frequently be seen

walking about over the grassy flats, in small companies, in a manner

similar to the Cow Blackbird, which, in its movements, it greatly

resembles. It nests in the sloughs, among the _tulé_, and the maximum

number of its eggs is four.

Mr. W. J. McLaughlin of Centralia, Kansas, writes (American

Naturalist, III, p. 493) that these birds arrive in that region about

the first of May, and all disappear about the 10th of June. He does

not think that any breed there. During their stay they make themselves

very valuable to the farmers by destroying the swarms of young

grasshoppers. On the writer’s land the grasshoppers had deposited

their eggs by the million. As they began to hatch, the Yellow-heads

found them out, and a flock of about two hundred attended about two

acres each day, roving over the entire lot as wild pigeons feed, the

rear ones flying to the front as the insects were devoured.

Mr. Clark met with these birds at New Leon, Mexico. They were always

in flocks, mingled with two or three of its congeneric species. They

were found more abundant near the coast than in the interior. There

was a roost of these birds on an island in a lagoon near Fort Brown.

Between sunset and dark these birds could be seen coming from all

quarters. For about an hour they kept up a constant chattering and

changing of place. Another similar roost was on an island near the

mouth of the Rio Grande.

Dr. Kennerly found them very common near Janos and also near Santa

Cruz, in Sonora. At the former place they were seen in the month of

April in large flocks. He describes them as quite domestic in their

habits, preferring the immediate vicinity of the houses, often feeding

with the domestic fowls in the yards.

Dr. Heermann states that these birds collect in flocks of many

thousands with the species of _Agelaius_, and on the approach of

spring separate into smaller bands, resorting in May to large marshy

districts in the valleys, where they incubate. Their nests he found

attached to the upright stalks of the reeds, and woven around them, of

flexible grasses, differing essentially from the nests of the

_Agelaii_ in the lightness of their material. The eggs, always four in

number, he describes as having a ground of pale ashy-green, thickly

covered with minute dots of a light umber-brown.

Mr. Nuttall states that on the 2d of May, during his western tour, he

saw these birds in great abundance, associated with the Cowbird. They

kept wholly on the ground, in companies, the sexes separated by

themselves. They were digging into the earth with their bills in

search of insects and larvæ. They were very active, straddling about

with a quaint gait, and now and then whistling out, with great effort,

a chuckling note, sounding like _ko-kuk kie-ait_. Their music was

inferior even to the harsh notes of _M. pecoris_.

Several nests of this species, procured in the marshes on the banks of

Lake Koskonong, in Southern Wisconsin, were sent me by Mr. Kumlien;

they were all light, neat, and elegant structures, six inches in

diameter and four in height. The cavity had a diameter of three and a

depth of two and a half inches. The base, periphery, and the greater

portion of these nests were made of interwoven grasses and sedges. The

grasses were entire, with their panicles on. They were impacted

together in masses. The inner portions of these nests were made of

finer materials of the same. They were placed in the midst of large,

overflowed marshes, and were attached to tall flags, usually in the

midst of clumps of the latter, and these were so close in their growth

that the nests were not easily discovered. They contained, usually,

from five to six eggs. These are of an oblong-oval shape, and measure

1.02 inches in length by .70 of an inch in breadth. Their ground-color

is of a pale greenish-white, profusely covered with blotches and finer

dottings of drab, purplish-brown, and umber.

GENUS STURNELLA, VIEILLOT.

_Sturnella_, VIEILLOT, Analyse, 1816. (Type, _Alauda magna_, L.)

[Line drawing: _Sturnella magna._

1303]

[Illustration: _Sturnella magna._]

GEN. CHAR. Body thick, stout; legs large, toes reaching beyond the

tail. Tail short, even, with narrow acuminate feathers. Bill slender,

elongated; length about three times the height; commissure straight

from the basal angle. Culmen flattened basally, extending backwards

and parting the frontal feathers; longer than the head, but shorter

than tarsus. Nostrils linear, covered by an incumbent membranous

scale. Inner lateral toe longer than the outer, but not reaching to

basal joint of middle; hind toe a little shorter than the middle,

which is equal to the tarsus. Hind claw nearly twice as long as the

middle. Feathers of head stiffened and bristly; the shafts of those

above extended into a black seta. Tertials nearly equal to the

primaries. Feathers above all transversely banded. Beneath yellow,

with a black pectoral crescent.

The only species which we can admit is the _S. magna_, though under

this name we group several geographical races. They may be

distinguished as follows:—

Species and Varieties.

1. S. magna. Above brownish, or grayish, spotted and barred

with black; crown divided by a median whitish stripe; side

of the head whitish, with a blackish streak along upper edge

of the auriculars. Beneath more or less yellowish, with a

more or less distinct dusky crescent on the jugulum. Sides,

flanks, and crissum whitish, streaked with dusky; lateral

tail-feathers partly white. _Adult._ Supraloral spot, chin,

throat, breast, and abdomen deep gamboge-yellow; pectoral

crescent deep black. _Young._ The yellow only indicated;

pectoral crescent obsolete. Length, about 9.00 to 10.50

inches. Sexes similar in color, but female much smaller.

A. In spring birds, the lateral stripes of the vertex

either continuous black, or with black largely

predominating; the black spots on the back extending to

the tip of the feather, or, if not, the brown tip not

barred (except in winter dress). Yellow of the throat

confined between the maxillæ, or just barely encroaching

upon their lower edge. White of sides, flanks, and crissum

strongly tinged with ochraceous.

_a._ Pectoral crescent much more than half an inch wide.

Wing, 4.50 to 5.00; culmen, 1.20 to 1.50; tarsus, 1.35

to 1.55; middle toe, 1.10 to 1.26 (extremes of a

series of four adult males). Lateral stripe of the

crown continuously black; black predominating on back

and rump (heavy stripes on ochraceous ground). Light

brown serrations on tertials and tail-feathers

reaching nearly to the shaft (sometimes the terminal

ones uninterrupted, isolating the black bars). _Hab._

Eastern United States var. _magna_.

Wing, 3.75 to 4.30; culmen, 1.15 to 1.30; tarsus, 1.50

to 1.75; middle toe, 1.10 to 1.25. (Ten adult males!)

Colors similar, but with a greater predominance of

black; black heavily prevailing on back and rump, and

extending to tip of feathers; also predominates on

tertials and tail-feathers. _Hab._ Mexico and Central

America var. _mexicana_.[31]

Wing, 4.45; culmen, 1.62; tarsus, 1.50; middle toe,

1.20. (One specimen). Colors exactly as in last.

_Hab._ Brazil var. _meridionalis_.[32]

_b._ Pectoral crescent much less than half an inch wide.

Wing, 3.90 to 4.10; culmen, 1.25 to 1.35; tarsus, 1.40

to 1.55; middle toe, 1.00 to 1.20. (Three adult

males.) Colors generally similar to _magna_, but crown

decidedly streaked, though black predominates;

ground-color above less reddish than in either of the

preceding, with markings as in _magna_. Pectoral

crescent about .25 in breadth. _Hab._ Cuba var. _hippocrepis_.[33]

B. In spring birds, crown about equally streaked with

black and grayish; black spots of back occupying only

basal half of feathers, the terminal portion being

grayish-brown, with narrow bars of black; feathers of the

rump with whole exposed portion thus barred. Yellow of the

throat extending over the maxillæ nearly to the angle of

the mouth.

Wing, 4.40 to 5.05; culmen, 1.18 to 1.40; tarsus, 1.30

to 1.45. (Six adult males.) A grayish-brown tint

prevailing above; lesser wing-coverts concolor with

the wings (instead of very decidedly more bluish);

black bars of tertials and tail-feathers clean,

narrow, and isolated. White of sides, flanks, and

crissum nearly pure. _Hab._ Western United States and

Western Mexico var. _neglecta_.

In _magna_ and _neglecta_, the feathers of the pectoral crescent are

generally black to the base, their roots being grayish-white; one

specimen of the former, however, from North Carolina, has the roots of

the feathers yellow, forbidding the announcement of this as a

distinguishing character; _mexicana_ may have the bases of these

feathers either yellow or grayish; while _hippocrepis_ has only the

tips of the feathers black, the whole concealed portion being bright

yellow.

In _mexicana_, there is more of an approach to an orange tint in the

yellow than is usually seen in _magna_, but specimens from Georgia

have a tint not distinguishable; in both, however, as well as in

_hippocrepis_, there is a deeper yellow than in _neglecta_, in which

the tint is more citreous.

As regards the bars on tertials and tail, there is considerable

variation. Sometimes in either of the species opposed to _neglecta_ by

this character there is a tendency to their isolation, seen in the

last few toward the ends of the feathers; but never is there an

approach to that regularity seen in _neglecta_, in which they are

isolated uniformly everywhere they occur. Two specimens only (54,064

California and 10,316 Pembina) in the entire series of _neglecta_ show

a tendency to a blending of these bars on the tail.

_Magna_, _mexicana_, _meridionalis_ and _hippocrepis_, are most

similar in coloration; _neglecta_ is most dissimilar compared with any

of the others. Though each possesses peculiar characters, they are

only of degree; for in the most widely different forms (_neglecta_ and

_mexicana_) there is not the slightest departure from the pattern of

coloration; it is only a matter of extension or restriction of the

several colors, or a certain one of them, that produces the

differences.

Each modification of plumage is attended by a still greater one of

proportions, as will be seen from the diagnoses; thus, though

_neglecta_ is the largest of the group, it has actually the smallest

legs and feet; with nearly the same general proportions, _magna_

exceeds it in the latter respects (especially in the bill), while

_mexicana_, a very much smaller bird than either, has disproportionally

and absolutely larger legs and feet united with the smallest size

otherwise in the whole series. _Meridionalis_ presents no differences

from the last, except in proportions of bill and feet; for while the

latter is the smallest of the series, next to _neglecta_, it has a

bill much exceeding that of any other.

The markings of the upper plumage of the young or even winter birds

are different in pattern from those of the adult; the tendency being

toward the peculiar features of the adult _neglecta_; the various

species in these stages being readily distinguishable, however, by the

general characters assigned. _Mexicana_ and _neglecta_ are both in

proportions and colors the most widely different in the whole series;

_hippocrepis_ and _neglecta_ the most similar. The relation of the

several races to each other is about as follows:—

A. Yellow of throat confined within maxillæ.

Crown with black streaks predominating.

Smallest species, with reddish tints, and maximum

amount of black.

Largest bill _meridionalis_.

Smallest bill; largest feet _mexicana_.

Next largest species, with less reddish tints, and

smaller amount of black. Bill and feet the standard of

comparison _magna_.

Crown with the light streaks predominating.

Narrowest pectoral crescent _hippocrepis_.

B. Yellow of throat covering maxillæ.

Crown with black and light streaks about equal.

Largest species, with grayish tints, and minimum

amount of black.

Smallest feet _neglecta_.

[31] _Sturnella mexicana_, SCLATER, Ibis, 1861, 179.

[32] _Sturnella meridionalis_, SCLATER, Ibis, 1861, 179.

[33] _Sturnella hippocrepis_, WAGLER, Ibis, 1832,

281.—LAWR. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. 1860.

Sturnella magna, SWAINSON.

MEADOW LARK; OLD FIELD LARK.

_Alauda magna_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 167, ed. 10 (based on

_Alauda magna_, CATESBY, tab. 33).—IB., (12th ed.,) 1766,

289.—GM. I, 1788, 801.—WILSON, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 20, pl.

xix.—DOUGHTY, Cab. I, 1830, 85, pl. v. _Sturnella magna_,

SWAINSON, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 436.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,

535.—SAMUELS, 343. _Sturnus ludovicianus_, LINNÆUS, Syst. Nat.

I, 1766, 290.—GM. I, 802.—LATH. Ind. I, 1790, 323.—BON. Obs.

Wils. 1825, 130.—LICHT. Verz. 1823, No. 165.—AUD. Orn. Biog.

II, 1834, 216; V, 1839, 492, pl. cxxxvi. _Sturnella

ludoviciana_, SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 282.—NUTTALL,

Man. I, 1832, 147.—BON. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850,

429.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 148.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 70, pl.

ccxxiii.—CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1851, 192.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla.

288. _Sturnella collaris_, VIEILL. Analyse, 1816.—IB. Galerie

des Ois. I, 1824, 134, pl. xc. _Sturnus collaris_, WAGLER,

Syst. Av. 1827, 1.—IB. Isis, 1831, 527. “_Cacicus alaudarius_,

DAUDIN,” CABANIS.

SP. CHAR. The feathers above dark brown, margined with brownish-white,

and with a terminal blotch of pale reddish-brown. Exposed portions of

wings and tail with dark brown bars, which on the middle tail-feathers

are confluent along the shaft. Beneath yellow, with a black pectoral

crescent, the yellow not extending on the side of the maxilla; sides,

crissum, and tibiæ pale reddish-brown, streaked with blackish. A light

median and superciliary stripe, the latter yellow anterior to the eye;

a black line behind. _Female_ smaller and duller. _Young_ with

pectoral crescent replaced by streaks; the yellow of under surface

replaced more or less by ochraceous or pale fulvous. Length, 10.60;

wing, 5.00; tail, 3.70; bill above, 1.35.

HAB. Eastern United States to the high Central Plains, north to

Southern British Provinces. England (SCLATER, Ibis, III, 176).

HABITS. The eastern form of the Meadow Lark is found in all the

eastern portions of the United States, from Florida to Texas at the

south, and from Nova Scotia to the Missouri at the north. Richardson

met with it on the Saskatchewan, where it arrives about the first of

May. In a large portion of the United States it is resident, or only

partially migratory.

In Maine this species is not abundant. A few are found in Southern

Maine, even as far to the east as Calais, where it is very rare. It

was not found in Oxford County by Mr. Verrill. In New Hampshire and

Vermont, especially in the southern portions, it is much more

abundant. Throughout Massachusetts it is a common summer visitant, a

few remaining all winter, the greater number coming in March and

leaving again in November, at which time they seem to be somewhat,

though only partially, gregarious. South of Massachusetts it becomes

more generally resident, and is only very partially migratory, where

the depth of snow compels them to seek food elsewhere. Wilson states

that he met a few of these birds in the month of February, during a

deep snow, among the heights of the Alleghanies, near Somerset, Penn.

The favorite resorts of this species are old fields, pasture-lands,

and meadows, localities in which they can best procure the insects,

largely coleopterous, and the seeds on which they feed. They are not

found in woods or thickets, or only in very exceptional cases.

In New England they are shy, retiring birds, and are rarely seen in

the neighborhood of houses; but in Georgia and South Carolina, Wilson

found them swarming among the rice plantations, and running about in

the yards and the out-buildings, in company with the Killdeer Plovers,

with little or no appearance of fear, and as if domesticated.

In Alabama and West Florida, Mr. Nuttall states, the birds abound

during the winter months, and may be seen in considerable numbers in

the salt marshes, seeking their food and the shelter of the sea-coast.

They are then in loose flocks of from ten to thirty. At this season

many are shot and brought to market. By some their flesh is said to be

sweet and good; but this is denied by Audubon, who states it to be

tough and of unpleasant flavor.

Mr. Sclater records the occurrence of one or more individuals of this

species in England.

The song of the eastern Meadow Lark is chiefly distinguished for its

sweetness more than any other excellence. When, in spring, at the

height of their love-season, they alight on the post of a fence, a

bush, or tree, or any other high object, they will give utterance to

notes that, in sweetness and tenderness of expression, are surpassed

by very few of our birds. But they are wanting in variety and power,

and are frequently varied, but not improved, by the substitution of

chattering call-notes, which are much inferior in quality. It is

noticeable that at the West there is a very great improvement in the

song of this bird as compared with that of their more eastern kindred,

though still very far from equalling, either in volume, variety, or

power, the remarkable song of the _neglecta_.

In the fall of the year these birds collect in small companies, and

feed together in the same localities, but keeping, individually,

somewhat apart.

In New England these birds mate during the latter part of April, and

construct their nests in May. They always place their nest on the

ground, usually in the shelter of a thick tuft of grass, and build a

covered passage to their hidden nest. This entrance is usually formed

of withered grass, and so well conceals the nest that it can only be

detected by flushing the female from it, or by the anxiety of her

mate, who will frequently fly round the spot in so narrow a circuit as

to betray its location.

The eggs of the Meadow Lark vary greatly in size and also in their

markings, though the general character of the latter is the same. The

smallest, from Florida, measure .95 by .68 of an inch. The largest,

from Massachusetts, measure 1.20 inches by .90. They have a white

ground, marked and dotted with irregular reddish-brown spots.

Generally these are equally distributed, but occasionally are chiefly

about the larger end. Their shape is oval, nearly equally rounded at

either end.