EASTERN BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD 447 



which is usually free from snow, and along the coastal marshes of 

 southern New England. On February 12, 1935, I was surprised to see 

 seven male cowbirds on my window feeding shelf in Taunton, Mass., 

 all fighting for the food. The weather, below freezing, was clear and 

 cold, and the ground was covered with deep, hard-frozen snow, as it 

 had been for the past few weeks of unusually cold weather. The males 

 continued to visit the feeding shelf all through that month, and on the 

 28th three females appeared. 



Thomas Mcllwraith (1894) says: "In Southern Ontario nearly all 

 the Cowbirds are migratory, but on two occasions I have seen them 

 located here in winter. There were in each instance ten or a dozen 

 birds which stayed by the farm-house they had selected for their 

 winter residence, and roosted on the beams above the cattle in the 

 cow-house." 



Milton B. Trautman (1940) noted wintering cowbirds in Ohio for 

 nine winters. "Usually, only a few individuals or a few small flocks 

 totaling less than 20 birds were noted in winter. In 2 years 50 to 

 300 wintered. The birds remained throughout the day about barn- 

 yards and adjacent fields where cattle were kept. Some roosted 

 at night in brushy inland marshes or in cattail swamps, and when 

 only a solitary individual or a few were present, they most frequently 

 roosted and associated with English Sparrows." 



The regular winter range is south of the Potomac and Ohio River 

 Valleys and extends to Florida and the Gulf coast. Here they join 

 in large mixed flocks with redwings, rusty blackbirds, starlings, 

 grackles, and meadowlarks, feeding in the stubble fields and ricefields. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Southeastern Canada and central and eastern United 

 States to Mexico and Florida. 



Breeding range. — The eastern brown-headed cowbird breeds 

 from southeastern Colorado, northwestern Kansas (Decatur County), 

 eastern Nebraska, central Iowa (Polk County, Clayton County), 

 eastern Minnesota, northern Michigan, central Ontario (Biscotasing, 

 Ottawa), south-western and central-eastern Quebec (Blue Sea Lake, 

 Capstan Island), New Brunswick (Tabucintac), and southern Nova 

 Scotia (Digby, Yarmouth) ; south to central Texas (San Angelo, 

 Waco, Caddo), south-central Louisiana, southern Mississippi (Saucier, 

 Gulfport), central Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Birmingham), central 

 Georgia (Augusta, Athens), western South Carolina (Clemson), 

 western North Carolina (Asheville, Weavcrville), and central and 

 southeastern Virginia (Naruna, Virginia Beach). 



Winter range. — Winters from central Oklahoma (Canadian 

 County, Tulsa), central Missouri (Mount Carmel, St. Louis), southern 



