CROW RELATIVES 



— especially out West where there are plenty of both 

 cattle and Cowbirds. They are good friends to the 

 cattle because they pull out grubs or maggots from the 

 animals' hides or sores, and thus perform a useful 

 service. We can only wish that they were as helpful 

 to their nearer relatives among the birds. But the 

 existence of every Cowbird proclaims the death of a 

 brood of useful destroyers of insects or weed-seeds, 

 which have perished because of the strong and greedy 

 parasite. The female Cowbird lays one egg or more 

 in the nests of these other birds, and in the struggle for 

 existence the young Cowbird always wins. In other 

 chapters where figure the victimized species, I shall 

 show how the parasite works and fares. 



The Red-winged or Swamp Blackbird is a familiar 

 and abundant bird over most of the United States. 

 Few fresh water marshes there are where we may not 

 hear the "conk-a-ree" song or the harsh alarm note of 

 this conspicuous bird. But common as it is, we must 

 go where it lives in order to see it. A lady of my 

 acquaintance thought that the Red-wings had decreased 

 sadly in her vicinity; she had not seen one all that 

 season. But that very day in walking to her home I had 

 seen dozens of them in the meadows along the road. 



They begin nesting by the middle of May, and the 

 nests are easy enough to find if one cares to don the 

 long rubber boots and go wading. The Red-wings, 

 both the black male with his flashy scarlet epaulettes 

 and his somber-hued streaky wife, will be hovering 



152 



