280 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



In Southern (Jiitario the merry, rolliekiiiL;' I'xilxiliiik is wi-ll known 

 to all who have occasion to pass l)y the cloxcr iields, or moist 

 meadows, in stimraer. He attracts attention rlicn i)y iiis fantastic 

 dress of black and white, as well as hy his <^nv and festive manner^ 

 while he seeks to cheer and cliai-m his modest lu'lpmate, who, in 

 humble garb of yellowish-ljrown, s))ends nnioh of her time concealed 

 among the grass. Toward tlie close of the season, tlie holiday (h-ess 

 and manners of the male <ire hiid aside, anrl l)v the time the birds 

 are ready to depart, male and female, young and old. are clad 

 alike in uniform brownish-yellow. The nien-y, jingling notes are 

 succeeded by a simple chink which serves to keep the flocks together, 

 and is often heard overhead at night in the early part of September. 

 In the south, where they get very fat, thev ui'e killed in gi'eat 

 numbers for the table. 



Genus MOLOTHRUS Swainsox. 

 MOLOTHHUS ATER (Bodd.). 



■20-2. Cowbird. (VJiy) 



Male: — Iridescent black; lietnl and iieuk puiijlisli-hiowii. Fiinalc: — Smaller, 

 an obscure-looking bird, nearly uniform dusky grayish-l)f()wn, l)ut rather paler 

 below, and appealing somewhat streaky, owing to darker shaft lines on nearly 

 all the feathers : bill and feet Idack in both sexes. Lengtii, 7.1-S ; wing, over 4 ; 

 tail, over 3. 



Hab. — United States, from tln' Atlantic ti) the I'acitic, north into Southern 

 British America, sontli, in winter, into Mexico. 



Nest, none. 



Eggs, deposited in tlie nest of another bird, dull uhitc tiii(l<ly dotted. 

 and sometimes blotched with brown : niuuber uncertain. 



In Southern Ontario iie;irly all the Cowbirds are migratory, liut 

 on two occasions I have seen them locati^l hei-e in winter. Thei-e 

 were in each in.stance ten or a dozen birds which stayed by the 

 farm-house they had selected for their wintei' residence, and roosted 

 on the beams above the cattle in the cow house. Rarly in April 

 the migratory flocks arrive from the south, aiul soon they are seen in 

 .small .solitary parties, chieHy in pastui-e-fields and by the banks of 

 streams all over the country. 



At this interesting season of tiie vear. when all other l)irds ai'e 

 mated and are striving to make each other happy in the faithful 

 discharge of theii- various domestic duties, the Cowbirds, despising 



