46 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 233 



On June 21, it was found that all the phalarope's eggs in one nest had 

 hatched and the two cowbird's eggs were left. These were later 

 flooded. In the second nest, on June 28, three phalarope's eggs 

 were found hatched. The remaining phalarope's egg was pipped but 

 had been destroyed by flooding along with the cowbird's eggs. One 

 of the cowbird's eggs in the first nest was evidently infertile, but the 

 others were advanced in development." 



California Gull 



Larus californicus Lawrence 



There is but one record for this unusual and apparently accidental 

 victmi. Alfred Eastgate wrote me many years ago that in June 1899 

 he found a nest of this gull containing several eggs of its own and one 

 of the cowbird in an area that "later became the National Bird Re- 

 serve of Shrimp Lake." I was never able to locate "Shrimp Lake," 

 and only recently have I found that it was a miswriting for "Stmnp 

 Lake," which is a national bird reserve in North Dakota, the state in 

 which Eastgate is known to have done most, if not all, his field work. 

 A gull is obviously unsuitable as host for a cowbird, and all that can 

 be said for this record is that on at least one occasion a cowbird made 

 the mistake of laying in a nest of this bird. The cowbird here in- 

 volved is the race artemisiae. 



Mourning Dove 



Zenaidura macroura (Linnaeus) 



The mourning dove is decidedly an uncommon victim of the brown- 

 headed cowbird, but it has been recorded as a host at least six times, 

 four records of which refer on geographic grounds to the eastern, 

 nominate race of the dove and of the cowbird, and one to the western 

 race Z.m. marginella. We may dispose of the latter one quickly as no 

 data concerning it are available. It is based solely on the fact that, 

 in the hst of cowbird victims in his unpublished manuscript on Texan 

 birds, Oberholser included the western mourning dove, but he gave 

 no supporting information as to the source or conditions of his record. 

 The other five are as follows: E. H. Bang informed Coues (1884, p. 

 293) that he found the mourning dove to be parasitized in eastern 

 Iowa, probably near West Liberty; Hicks (1934, p. 396) noted a 

 similar case in Franldin County, Ohio; A. J. Berger (1960, p. 118) 

 found a nest near Ann Arbor, Michigan, which contained a young 

 mourning dove and a fresh cowbird egg (when first seen, it had held 2 

 dove eggs and 1 of the cowbird); Dr. Richard F. Johnston (in litt.) 

 informed me that, out of 1,010 nests of the mourning dove found in 

 Kansas, one contained an egg of the brown-headed cowbird; and C. D. 

 Kellogg (1900, p. 121) observed a parasitized nest at Rock Hill, 

 Pennsylvania, on May 25, 1899. 



