cowbird WESTERN BIRDS 



owners, the bird deposits her eggs, then again joins some 

 roving band. Usually only two eggs are laid, but three 

 or even four may be. 



The small birds upon whom the Cowbird has imposed, 

 sometimes desert their nest; sometimes build a false 

 bottom over the big egg and again lay their own. Often, 

 however, they submit to the ways of Nature, and raise 

 the young Cowbird which hatches before their own and 

 being so much larger and stronger gets most of the food, 

 so that the rightful heirs are starved, or smothered, or 

 pitched out of the nest by the usurpers, and the foster- 

 parents raise the Cowbird. However, as soon as he is 

 weaned, the ungrateful wretch joins the bands of his 

 own kind and again we see illustrated the old adage that 

 "Blood is thicker than water." Is it any wonder that 

 these birds are not favorites? 



These Cowbirds, plebeian in name and ways, are not 

 musicians. The common call is a chuck note while the 

 song is a long, thin, high-pitched whistle — distressing to 

 hear. 



GENUS MOLOTHRUS: DWAEF 

 COWBIRD. 



Dwarf Cowbird: Molothrus ater obscurus. 



FAMILY— BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 



In southeastern California and southern Nevada east 

 to southern Texas and south into Mexico is found the 

 Dwarf Cowbird which resembles its eastern cousin. 



Though these birds have not, as yet, become very 

 common in Los Angeles and vicinity, one summer it was 

 my privilege to come across two young birds, both being 

 fed by Song Sparrows. 



On June 22nd, 1916, I was giving a bird talk at a 



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