180 MOLOTHRUS PECORIS, COW-BIRD. 



MOLOTHRUS PECOKIS, (Gm.) Sw. 

 Cow-bird ; Cowpen-bird ; Cow-Bljickbinl. 



a. pecoris. 



FringiUa pecoris, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 910 ($).— Lath., Ind. Orn. ii, 1790, 443.— 

 Light., Verz. 1823, No8. 230, 231.— SACiiNE, Fraukl. Joimi. 076. (F. v'mjiniana of 

 Bfisson ; Cowpen Finch of Pennant, Arct. Zool. ii, 371, No. 241.) 



Emherha jK'Coris, WiLS., Am. Orn. ii, 1810, 145, pi. 18, figs. I, 2, 3. 



Passerina pecoris, Vieili.., Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxv, 1819, 22. 



Icterus pecoris, Bp., Oba. Wils. 1824. No. 88; Syn. 1828, 53.— Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 178.— 

 AuD., Orn. Biogj. i, 1831, 493 ; v, 1839, 233, 400; pis. 99, 424. 



" Psarocolius iuxoris, Wagl., Syst. Av. 1827, No. 30" {Jide Cahanis). 



Moloihrns pecoris, Sw. & Rich., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 277.— Bp., List. 1838, 29; Consp. i, 1850, 

 436.- AriD., Svu. 1839, 139; B. Am. iv, 1842, 16, pi. 212.— Gii;., B. L. L 1844, 

 139.— Bd., B. N. a. 1858, .524.— Tkippe, Am. Nat. iii, 1869, 291 (biography).— 

 Stev., U. S. Gcol. Surv. Ter. 1870, 465.— Coues, Key, 1872, 155.— B. B. & K., N. 

 A. B. ii, 1874, 154, pi., 32, f. 6, 7 ; and of writers generally. 



Molohrns pecoris, Sundevai.l, Metb. Nat. Av. Disp. Tentamen, 1872, 22 (after Caij., 

 Mus. Heiu. 192). 



MoJothriis alcr, Gi:ay, Hand list, ii, 1870, 36, No. 6507 (after Bodd., PI. Enl. 606, fig. 1). 



'' Oriolus ftisctis, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788,203" (thus identified by Cahanis and Gray; 

 queried by Baird ; probably belongs here). 



"OrioJns minor, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788. 394" (apiid Cahanis and Cassin); also oi Latham. 



'^Icterus emberizoides, Daudix" (fide Grai/ and Cahanis). 



FriufjiUa ambitjiia, Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 484 (unquestionably !). 



b. ohscuriis. 



Sturniis ohsciirus, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 804 (S. novaldspanice, Briss., ii, 448). 



Sturnnsjiinccli, Lath., Ind. Orn. ii, 1790, 326 {=^ S. obscurus, Gm.) 



Moloihriis ohscurus, Cass., Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 18 (Lower California and Mexico). — 



Coop., B. Cal. i. 1870, 260.— Gi:ay, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 36, No. 6508. 

 MoJothrus pecoris, var. obscurus, Coues, Key, 1872, 155 (Arizona and southward). — B. I). 



& R., N. A. B. ii. 1874, 154 (in text), pi. 32, f. 8. 

 Molothrus pecoris, (?) Sci.'., P. Z. S. 1857, 213; 1859, 365; 1860, 252.— Coues, Pr. Phila. 



Acad. 1866, 90. 



Hah. — The typical form throughout temperate North America (excepting Pacific 

 coast?). North to 68°. Breeds abundantly from about 35° northward, and winters in 

 great numbers in the Southern States. Var. obscurus in Arizona, Lower California, and 

 southward. 



Lieutenant Warren's Ex2)edition. — 4355, Fort Pierre; 4365, 5368, mouth of the Yellow- 

 stone: 5327, Medicine Hill; 9334, 9336-7, Loup Fork. 



Later Expeditions. — 60450, La Bont6 Creek, Wyoming. 



The bird I have designated as var. obscurus, or the Dwarf Cow-bJ' d, as above, and 

 also in the Key, is strikingly smaller than the typical form. Indeed, Mr. Cassin was 

 led to make it a distinct species, which, however, it is not. It is precisely like the 

 ordinary bird in color, but is much smaller, the male only about equaling the female 

 of true j^fcori.s. The female of var. obscurus is under 7 inches long, with the wing about 

 3*, and the tail 2i ; the female of pecoris is 7 to 7^ inches long, the wing nearly 4, the 

 tail nearly 3 ; while an average male pecoris measures full 8 inches, the wing over 4, 

 and the tail over 3. 



Earlier authors described the Cow-bird under a variety of names, and not always 

 accurately, causing uncertainty if not confusion. But we may be reasonably sure that 

 pecoris, the name usually adopted, is not the one having pi'iority. Turning back a few 

 pages of Gnielin, from p. 910 (pecoris), we find on p. 804 a certain Sttirnus obscurus, evi- 

 dently a Cow-bird, and usually held identical with pecoris, hut which, from the refei"- 

 ence to S. norev-hisjjaniee of Brisson, is the dwarf Mexican form. So far as this goes, 

 the above quotations ought in strictness to be reversed, giving us Molothrus obscui'us 

 and M. obscurus var. ^wcoris. But back still further in Gmelin, wo find Oriolus minor 

 (p. 394) and O. fuscus (p. 393), both probably Cow-birds. It appears, however, that we 

 need not employ any of Gmeliu's names ; for, according to Mr. G. R. Gray, the aicr of 

 Bodda^rt is this species, and antedates them all. It would apjiear, therefore, that the 

 proper name of the species is Molothrus ater (Bodd.), Gray, and of its variety, M. ater 

 var. obscurus (Gji.), Coues. Even the generic name has given trouble, for both Ca- 

 hanis and Sundevall understand, upon philological grounds, that Swainson should 

 have written Molobrus instead of Molothrus. 



