COWBIRD. 
year their numbers do not decrease.” It is a fact that 
the clearing of forests in the North and the introduction 
of rice culture in the South have afforded a greater avail- 
able breeding area for the Bobolink, and it has accord- 
ingly increased in numbers. 
Cowbird This disreputable character, parasitic im 
rus habit and degenerate in all moral instinct, 
ater A - 
L. 7.90 inches 8¢ts its name through its fondness for bo- 
April ist vine society, and its fame from its abomi- 
nable habit of laying its egg in another bird’s nest. It 
is not handsome, either. A hood of dark snuff-brown 
extends from the crown to the neck and breast; the 
general color otherwise is an iridescent black; the tail is 
somewhat square at the tip. Female a grayish brown, 
lighter beneath, and graded to whitish gray on the 
throat. Egg, white marked with evenly distributed 
specks of cinnamon or sepia brown, deposited in the 
nest of another bird, generally that of a Sparrow, Vireo, 
and Warbler. The bird is rare in the mountainous parts 
of northern New England, but is distributed from this 
point generally west and south. It is a walker, not a 
hopper. 
The Cowbird has no song; his nearest approach to 
music is a sort of guttural murmuring which, according 
to Mr. Chapman, is produced with an apparently ‘‘ nau- 
seous effort.” But these guttural chirps are an index ta 
the character of the bird; they are a harsh, metallic 
gluck, zee-zee without rhythm or sentiment. Why 
should they have either? The bird has no song—na 
mate to call. He is a polygamist, a bird of no princi- 
ples, a ‘‘low-down” character. He usually goes with a 
flock of other evil spirits just like himself, and their fa- 
vorite resort is the cow-yard or the pasture where the 
cattle graze. Very probably they have one good redeem- 
ing quality: they keep myriads of insects in check which 
otherwise would worry the life out of the cows; but no 
one seems to be positively sure about that. It is certain, 
however, that the young Cowbirds do no end of harm to 
the bird families upon which they are foisted, for there 
is many a dainty Warbler or Vireo pushed out of the 
33 
