COWBIRD 



99 



Probably the historic cause of this remarkable 

 habit would give us more charity for the bird, but 

 it does such violence to the one redeeming instinct 

 of the lowest types of man and beast that it is 

 hard not to regard the bird with unqualified 

 aversion. Not only is it entirely lacking in the 

 maternal but in the conjugal instincts, for it prac- 

 tices polyandry. On the other hand, the male 

 Cowbird is polygamous, and Mr. Ridgway tells us 

 " becomes quite amorous during the breeding sea- 

 son, parading before the females with spread wings 

 and tails, now and then swelling up till he seems 

 ready to burst ; but the looked-f or catastrophe is 

 prevented by the emission of a ridiculous squeak- 

 ing song, when he subsides to his original propor- 

 tions." The only thing that can be said in favor 

 of the female Cowbird is that she takes pains to 

 place her eggs where they are most likely to be 

 hatched. Major Bendire gives a list of ninety- 

 one birds in whose nests she has been known to 

 leave her eggs : but though this includes Wood- 

 peckers, Flycatchers, Orioles, Thrushes, Sparrows, 

 Vireos, Wrens, and Warblers, the birds most fre- 

 quently imposed upon are so small that the Cow- 

 bird's big, crowding nestling will be the one to 

 survive when it is a question of size and resisting 

 power. It is said that as many as seven Cowbird 

 eofss have been found in a single nest, but there 

 is usually only one. The eggs generally hatch 

 before those of the riditful owners of the nest, 



