THE COWBIRD. 43 



soft gray mosses for the eggs. The nest is usually well concealed in a fir 

 tree, and may be placed at any height from ten or fifteen feet upward, altho 

 usually at sixty or eighty feet. Only one brood is reared in a season, and 

 family groups hunt trigether until late in the summer. 



No. 15. 



COWBIRD. 



A. O. U. Xo. 495. Molothrus ater (Bodd.). 



Synonyms. — Cow Blackbird. Cuckold. 



Description. — Adult male: Head and neck wood-, seal-, or coffee-brown 

 (variable) : remaining plumage black with metallic greenish or bluish iridescence. 

 Female: Dark grayish brown, showing slight greenish reflections, darkest on 

 wings and tail, lightening on breast and throat. Young in first plumage: Like 

 female but lighter below and more or less streaky ; above somewhat mottled by 

 buft'y edgings of feathers. The young males present a striking appearance when 

 they are assuming the adult black, on the installment plan, by chunks and blotches. 

 Length 7.50-8.00 (190.5-203.2); wing 4.40 (111.8); tail 3.00-3.40 (76.2-86.4); 

 bill .65 (16.5); tarsus .95-1.10 (24.1-27.9). Female, length, wing, and tail 

 one-half inch less. 



Recognition Marks. — Cliewink size : brown head and black body of male ; 

 brown of female. 



Nesting. — The Cowljird invariably deposits her eggs in the nests of other 

 birds. Eggs: 1 or 2, rarely 3 or 4, with a single hostess, white, often faintly 

 tinged with bluish or greenish, evenly speckled with cinnamon, brown or umber. 

 Av. size. .85 X .65 (21.6x16.5), but quite variable. Season: April-June. 



General Range. — United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific, north into 

 southern British America, south in winter, into JSIexico. 



Range in Washington. — Of limited but regular occurrence east of the 

 Cascades, increasing ; rare or casual in western Washington. Summer resident. 



Authorities. — Bendire, Life Histories of N. A. Birds, \''ol. IL, p. 434. 

 D'. D-'. Ss-\ J. B. E. 

 Specimens. — C. P. 



WHILE I was chatting with my host at milking time (at the head of 

 Lake Chelan in the ante-tourist days), a dun-colored bird with light under- 

 parts flew down into the corral, and began foraging as tho tO' the manor born. 

 One by one the cows sniffed at the stranger and nosed it about, following 

 it up curiously. But the bird only side-stepped or walked unconcernedly ahead. 

 \\'hen I returned with the gun, a moment later, I found a calf investigating 

 the newcomer, and it was difficult to separate the creature from bossikin's 

 nose. The date was August 3rd ; the bird proved to be a young male 



