Cowbird. 139 



March; and in their migration, as at other times of the 

 year, they are gregarious, though not seen in the ex- 

 tensive flocks into which the grackles assemble. Follow- 

 ing the custom of most of the migratory birds, the male& 

 commonly precede the females several days. For a month 

 or more they spend their time together in the pastures 

 among the cattle, or sitting along the fences and road- 

 sides, and in trees along the edges of woods bordering 

 fields and pastures. They frequently alight on the backs 

 of the cattle to pick insects from the hairs, or to sit with 

 lazy ease, their familiarity with the cattle suggesting their 

 name of cowbird. They also follow the steps of the plow- 

 boy, and pick up worms and larvse in the furrows made 

 by the plow. 



We can begin our study of this peculiar bird on any 

 fine morning after the grackles have become fully settled 

 in their accustomed resorts, and after the finely-strung 

 notes of the red-winged blackbirds have grown old to the 

 ear. Then, on some bright morning, as we walk out 

 along the roadside leading from the village, the sharp, 

 squeaky whistle of the cowbird greets our ear, and we are 

 guided by the sound to look for the author in the top of 

 a bare hedge tree or other convenient perch. There he 

 sits alone, and like the bronzed grackle in uttering his 

 unmusical, rasping notes, the cowbird swells his body 

 and erects his feathers, preparatory to the eff'ort which is 

 to produce only a shrill note, reminding us of a long, in- 

 drawn whistle. Later in the month the whistle of the 

 male is heard almost as frequently as the note of the 

 grackle or redwing, or the rich, melodious plaint of the 

 meadow lark. 



In their courtship the males are very gallant, and 

 parade before the females with partly expanded wings 

 and tail, and the feathers of the neck inflated, uttering 

 their unmusical love-notes before dwindling to their ordi- 

 nary size. They doubtless regard their appearance as 

 quite pompous and worthy the admiration of the fair 

 ones, though to the human observer the effect is rather 

 ludicrous. The birds generally associate at this season 

 in groups of six or eight, and the males are easily distin- 

 guished by the gloss of their black plumage in contrast 



