HOST RELATIONS OF PARASITIC COWBIRDS 45 



Although the record stands, it hardly warrants looking upon the 

 blue-winged teal as anything but an accidental "host" of the cowbird. 

 Indeed, there is no evidence that the teal was still in possession of its 

 nest when the first cowbird egg was laid. The cowbird involved in 

 this record is of the race artemisiae. 



Ferruginous Hawk 



Buteo regalis (Gray) 



This very sizeable hawk cannot be looked upon as anything but a 

 purely accidental host of the brown -headed cowbird. The only loiown 

 record, which involves the northwestern race, wasnoted near Bottineau, 

 North Dakota, May 3, 1894, by Alfred Eastgate, who found a nest 

 with 4 eggs of the hawk and 1 of the cowbird. 



Killdeer 



Charadrius vociferus (Linnaeus) 



The killdeer is in our catalog solely on the basis of its inclusion in a 

 list of cowbird victims in Oberholser's unpublished manuscript on the 

 birds of Texas. As I stated in my book (1929, p. 205), the data 

 supporting this inclusion were not placed on record, and from conver- 

 sation with the compiler I find that at this late date it is highly unlikely 

 that the data will come to light. The bird is obviously inappropriate 

 as a host species, and it cannot be looked upon as other than an 

 accidental victim of the parasite. Even the word "victim" hardly 

 applies ; if the eggs had been left to hatch, the kiUdeer still would have 

 suffered no inconvenience. 



Upland Plover 



Bartramia longicauda (Bechstein) 



The upland plover is another accidental host, for which there is but 

 a single record — ^a nest found in Minnesota, containing 4 eggs of the 

 upland plover plus 1 of the^brown -headed cowbird. According to infor- 

 mation received from the late J. H. Bowles, in whose collection the 

 eggs were at the time, the cowbird egg was almost buried in the bottom 

 of the nest. 



Wilson's Phalarope 



Steganopus tricolor Vieillot 



At Bear River Refuge, Utah, June 3, 1938, Wilhams and Trow- 

 bridge (1939, p. 77) found two nests of this bird parasitized by the 

 northwestern race of the brown-headed cowbird. The nests were 

 about 25 yards apart and were fairly well concealed in damp salt-grass 

 on a small, artificial island in the lower marshes. "Each contained 

 four phalarope and two cowbird eggs. Since these instances seemed 

 from available information to constitute a new host record, subsequent 

 visits to the nest were made to learn the ultimate fate of the eggs. 



