BRONZED GRACKLE 421 



western and northern Mississippi (Centerville, Baldwyn), northern 

 Tennessee (Nashville), Kentucky, central West Virginia (Nicholas 

 County, Franklin), central Pennsylvania (State College), central New 

 York (Ithaca, Troy), northern Connecticut (Litchfield), Rhode 

 Island, and southeastern Massachusetts (Martha's Vineyard, Dennis) ; 

 also on Shelter Island, at the eastern end of Long Island, New York. 



Winter range. — Winters casually north to northern Minnesota 

 (Fosston, Grand Marais), southern Wisconsin (Racine), southern 

 Michigan (Vicksburg, Ann Arbor), southern Ontario (Kitchener, 

 Gananoque), and along the Atlantic coast to New Brunswick (Mem- 

 ramcook) and central Nova Scotia (Wolfville) ; south to southern 

 Texas (Mission), southern Mississippi (Biloxi), central Alabama 

 (Greensboro), southern Georgia (Fitzgerald), and South Carolina 

 (Aiken, Mount Pleasant). 



Casual records. — Casual in eastern Washington (Whitman 

 County), Nevada (Fallon, Crystal Springs), central-southern Texas 

 (Fort Clark), northern Ontario (Fort Severn), and on Sable Island, 

 Nova Scotia. 



MOLOTHRUS ATER ATER (Roddaert) 



Eastern Brown-Headed Cowbird 



Plates 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29 

 HABITS 



The two most characteristic habits of this bird are indicated in the 

 above names. The Greek word Molothros signifies a vagabond, 

 tramp, or parasite, all of which terms might well be applied to this 

 shiftless vagabond and imposter. It deserves the common name 

 cowbird and its former name, buffalo-bird, for its well-known attach- 

 ment to these domestic and wild cattle. The species is supposed to 

 have been derived from South America ancestors, to have entered 

 North America through Mexico, to have spread through the Central 

 Prairies and Plains with the roving herds of wild cattle, and to have 

 gradually extended its range eastward and westward to the coasts as 

 the forests disappeared, the open lands became cultivated, and 

 domestic cattle were introduced on suitable grazing lands. 



The cowbird is unique in a family of nest-building birds; the black- 

 birds all build strong, well made nests, and the orioles show remarkable 

 nest-building ability; the bobolink builds only a flimsy nest of grass 

 on the ground, but the cowbird builds no nest at all, relying on other 

 species to hatch its eggs and rear its young. Whethertthe cowbird 

 ever knew how to build a nest, and, if it did, how it happenedjtolose 



