NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 63 



the breeding season. The nests are concealed in the luxuriant herbage of 

 meadows with such instinctive care for their safety as to be difficult to 

 find. Of all of our natural songsters the Bobolink is the most noted and 

 popular. Who has not heard 



"That rollicking, jubilant whistle, 

 That rolls like a brooklet along — 

 That sweet flageolet of the meadows, 

 The bubbling, bobolink song?" 



Who has not heard his song when on the wing, and seen him when at 

 rest with the broad, green meadow and pasture lands spread before him, 

 perched on the top of a wind-beaten reed, with his wings sunward spread, 

 his head erect, his white and black back glistening in the sunlight, pour- 

 ing forth his " bubble-ing " bobolink notes to the azure windows of 

 heaven? In the South he is known as the Rice-bird, in the Middle States 

 as Reed-bird and Meadow-wink, and in the Northern States as Skunk 

 Blackbird. 



Hab. Eastern North America; north to the Saskatchewan; west to the Rocky Mountains, Utah, Nevada, 

 Wyoming, and Montana; south to Bolivia, La Plata, etc.; West Indies, Gallipagoes. 



258. Cowbird — molothrus ater. White, more or less thickly spot- 

 ted and dotted with ashy or reddish-brown, rounded oval; .85 by .65. 

 The Cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of other smaller birds, and usually 

 deposits a single ^^^, but as many as five have been found in a nest. The 

 exact number the female lays is not known. Dr. Coues, in his " Key to 

 North American Birds," says he has found eggs of this bird in the nests 

 of birds as large as those of the Kingbird and Towhee Bunting. The 

 Cowbird's eggs closely resemble those of the Cardinal Redbird. 



Hab. North America at large. 



258a. Dwarf Cowbird — molothrus ater obscurus. Same mark- 

 ings as those of M. ater, common cowbird. Habits the same. The eggs 

 average .78 by .61. This form is found in southwestern United States; 

 from Texas to California resident. 



259. Bronzed Cowbird — molothrus ^eneus. Greenish-white, with- 

 out markings; the average size is .90 by .70. Dr. Merrill, in his "Notes 

 on the Ornithology of Southern Texas," says: " This Cowbird is found in 

 Mexico, Guatemala, and Veragua, as well as in Southern Texas ; how far 

 it penetrates into the latter State I am unable to say." He found its eggs 

 in the nests of Bullock's and Hooded Oriole, and the small Orchard Ori- 

 ole var. affinis ; once in the nest of the Yellow-breasted Chat, and Red- 

 winged Blackbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Cardinal Grosbeak. 

 Another name for this bird is Red-eyed Cowbird, on account of its blood- 

 red iris. 



