Page:Notes on the Ornithology of Southern Texas.djvu/16

Rh Sp. ch. — Adult male; Head, neck, back, and lower parts soft, silky bronze-black, of a peculiar shade, having a brassy greenish olive cast, much like the plumage of the body in Quiscalus wneus; the feathers violet-black immediately beneath the surface, the basal portion of the feathers slaty-grayish; scapulars and rump more violet; wings in general, tail -coverts, and tail lustrous silky steel-blue, the tail-coverts and upper wing-coverts more violaceous, the primaries and rectrices more greenish in certain lights; tibiae and anal region silky black; lining of the wings silky violet. Bill and feet deep black ; iris blood-red. Wing, 4.60-4.80; tail, 3.70-3.80; culmeu, .85-.90; tarsus, 1.15-1. -'5; middle toe, .85-.95. Young male : Uniform dull black, with a faint violet lustre on the back and rump, and a slight gloss of bottle-green on the wings and tail. Adult female : Uniform brownish-gray, darker above, where very faintly glossed with dull bluish, and paler beneath, many of the feathers of the wings and tail showing indistinctly paler edges, and feathers of the breast exceedingly indistinct darker shaft- streaks. Wing, 4.10; tail, 3.25; cul men, 0.75; tarsus, 1.05; middle toe, 0.85.

. — Mexico and Central America, from the Rio Grande Valley (in the United States) to the Isthmus of Panama.

I have nothing of importance to add to the following notes, which appeared in the October (1877) number of the Bulletin of the j^uttali Ornithological Club, pp. 85-87 : —

"The occurrence of this species north of Mexico was noted in the Bulletin of November, 1876 (Vol. I, p. 88). It is now more than a year since it was first observed, and during that time I have had ample op- portunity to study its habits, a short account of which may be of interest. This Cowbird is found in Mexico, Guatemala, and Yeragua, as well as in Southern Texas; how far it penetrates into the latter State I am unable to say. My first specimens were taken at Hidalgo, on the Rio Grande, seventy miles northwest of Port Brown, where, however, they are not so abundant as lower down the river. Here they are common throughout the year, a small proportion going south in winter. Those that remain gather in large flocks with the Long-tailed Grackles, com- mon Gowbirds, and Brewer's, Red-winged, and Yellow-headed Black- birds ; they become very tame, and the abundance of food about the picket-lines attracts them for miles around. H. ceneus is readily distin- guishable in these mixed gatherings from the other species by its blood - red iris and its peculiar top-heavy appearance, caused by its habit of puifing out the feathers of the head and neck. This habit is most marked during the breeding season and in the male, but is seen through- out the year. •

"About the middle of April the common Cowbird, Brewer's, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds leave for the North ; the Long tailed Grackles have formed their colonies in favorite clumps of mesquite trees; the Redwings that remain to breed have selected sites for their nests ; the dwarf Cowbirds {Molothrus ater var. obscurus) arrive from the South,