cow BUNTING. 77 



" In autumn we often find them congresrated with the Marsh Black- 

 birds, committing their common depredations upon the ears of the In- 

 dian corn ; and at other seasons the similarity of their pursuits in feeding 

 introduces them into the same company. I could never observe that 

 they would keep the company of any other bird. 



" The Cowpen finch differs moreover in another respect from all the 

 birds with which I am acquainted. After an observance of many years 

 I could never discover anything like pairing or a mutual attachment 

 between the sexes. Even in the season of love, when other birds are 

 separated into pairs, and occupied in the endearing office of providing 

 a receptacle for their offspring, the Fringillne are seen feeding in odd as 

 well as even numbers, from one to twenty, and discovering no more dis- 

 position towards perpetuating their species than birds of any other spe- 

 cies at other seasons, excepting a promiscuous concubinage which per- 

 vades the whole tribe. When the female separates from the company, 

 her departure is not noticed ; no gallant partner accompanies her, nor 

 manifests any solicitude in her absence ; nor is her return greeted by 

 that gratulatory tenderness that so eminently characterizes the males 

 of other birds. The male proifers the same civilities to any female in- 

 discriminately, and they are reciprocated accordingly, without exciting 

 either resentment or jealousy in any of the party. This want of sexual 

 attachment is not inconsistent with the general economy of this singular 

 bird ; for as they are neither their own architect, nor nurse of their 

 own young, the degree of attachment that governs others would be 

 superfluous. 



" That tbe Fringilla never builds a nest for itself you may assert 

 without the hazard of a refutation. I once offered a premium for the 

 nest, and the negroes in the neighborhood brought me a variety of nests, 

 but they were always traced to some other bird. The time of deposit- 

 ing their eggs is from the middle of April to the last of May, or nearly 

 so ; corresponding with the season of laying observed by the small birds, 

 on whose property it encroaches. It never deposits but one egg in the 

 same nest, and this is generally after the rightful tenant begins to 

 deposit hers, but never I believe after she has commenced the process 

 of incubation. It is impossible to say how many they lay in a season, 

 unless they could be watched when confined in an aviary. 



" By a minute attention to a number of these birds when they feed in 

 a particular field in the laying season, the deportment of the female, 

 when the time of laying draws near, becomes particularly interesting. 



bird to follow the cattle in spring, when the aperient effect of the green grasses 

 evacuates great numbers of worms. At this season the ^ecom often stuffs its crop 

 with them till it can contain no more. There are several species, but the most 

 numerous is a small white one similar to, if not the same as, the ascaris of the hu- 

 man species." 



