The Bird Book Part 67

Range.--A European species which has casually been taken in Greenland.

It was liberated a number of years ago in Central Park, New York City, and has now become abundant there and is spreading slowly in all directions.

They build their nests in all sorts of locations such as are used by the English Sparrow, wherever they can find a sufficiently large crevice or opening; less often they build their nests in trees, making them of straw, twigs and trash. They lay from four to six pale bluish green eggs; size 1.15 .85. Two broods are reared in a season.

BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. Family ICTERIDae

494. BOBOLINK. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._

Range.--Eastern North America, breeding from New Jersey north to Nova Scotia and Manitoba, and west to Utah and Nevada; winters in South America.

This black and white bird is well known in the east, where his sweet, wild music, often uttered on the wing, is much admired. He sings all day long during May and June to his Sparrow-like mate, who is sitting on her nest concealed in the meadow gra.s.s. They are quite sociable birds and several pairs often nest in the same field, generally a damp meadow; the nests are hollows in the ground, lined with gra.s.s and frequently with the top slightly arched to conceal the eggs, which are grayish white, clouded, spotted and blotched with brownish, gray and lilac; size .84 .62. They number from four to six and are laid in June.

495. COWBIRD. _Molothrus ater ater._

Range.--North America from the Atlantic to eastern California, and from New Brunswick and Manitoba southward; winters from the southern half of the United States southward.

[Ill.u.s.tration 316: Starling.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bluish green.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bobolink.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Grayish white.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: left hand margin.]

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These uncivilized members of the bird world build no nests for themselves, but slyly deposit their egg in the nest of some other bird from the size of a Robin down, probably the greater number being in Warblers and Sparrows nests; the eggs are hatched and the young cared for by the unfortunate birds upon which they are thrust. The eggs are white, spotted and speckled all over, more or less strongly with brown and yellowish brown; size .85 .64.

495a. DWARF COWBIRD. _Molothrus ater obscurus._

Range.--Southwestern United States and Mexico, wintering south of our borders.

This variety is like the last, but slightly smaller. The nesting habits of the two are identical and the eggs are indistinguishable. It is believed that Cowbirds do more damage to the smaller birds than all other dangers combined, as their young being larger and stronger either crowd or smother the other young or else starve them by getting most of the food brought to the nest.

496. RED-EYED COWBIRD. _Tangavius aeneus involucratus._

Range.--Mexico; north in summer to the Lower Rio Grande in Texas.

This parasite is larger than the Cowbird, being 9 inches long, and is glossy black with bra.s.sy reflections on the upper and under parts. They are abundant in southern Texas where they deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds, apparently preferring those of Orioles; their eggs are pale bluish green, unmarked; size .90 .70.

497. YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. _Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus._

Range.--North America west of the Mississippi to eastern California, breeding from the southern parts of the United States north to British Columbia and Hudson Bay and wintering from southern United States downward.

This large handsome Blackbird with bright yellow head and breast is very abundant in some parts of the west, where they nest in large colonies in sloughs and marshes, being especially abundant in the Dakotas and Manitoba. The nests are made of strips of rushes, skillfully woven together and attached to upright cane near the surface of the water.

They lay from four to six eggs having a grayish white ground color, finely specked and spotted with shades of brown and gray; size 1.00 .70.

[Ill.u.s.tration 317: White.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cowbird.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Light blue-green.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yellow-headed Blackbird.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Grayish white.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]

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498. RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. _Agelaius phniceus phniceus._

Range.--North America east of the Rockies and from the southern British Provinces southward to the Gulf; winter in southern United States.

These birds are familiar to every frequenter of the country, in their range; too familiar to many, for the enormous flocks do considerable damage to grain fields in the fall. They also do a great amount of good at other seasons in the destruction of injurious insects and weed seed.

They breed from April in the southern parts of their range to May and June in the northern, making their nests of gra.s.ses, woven and twisted together and placing them in bushes in swamps or over water, and sometimes on the ground in clumps of gra.s.s. Their eggs are from three to five in number, bluish white boldly spotted, clouded or lined with blackish brown and purplish. Size 1.00 .70. The nests and eggs of the numerous sub-species are all precisely the same as those of this bird, so we will but enumerate the varieties and their range. To identify these varieties other than by their ranges will require micrometer calipers and the services of the men who separated them.

498a. SONORA RED-WING. _Agelaius phniceus sonoriensis._

Range.--A slightly larger variety found in southern United States.

498b. BAHAMA RED-WING. _Agelaius phniceus bryanti._

Range.--Bahamas and southern Florida.

This species has a slightly longer bill.

498c. FLORIDA RED-WING. _Agelaius phniceus florida.n.u.s._

Range.--Florida and Gulf coast.

A smaller species with a longer bill.

498d. THICK-BILLED RED-WING. _Agelaius phniceus fortis._

Range.--Breeds in the interior of British America; in winter south through the Plains to southwestern United States.

498e. SAN DIEGO RED-WING. _Agelaius Phniceus neutralis._

Range.--Great Basin between the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas, from British Columbia to Mexico, wintering in the southern parts of its range.

498f. NORTHWESTERN RED-WING. _Agelaius phniceus caurinus._