248 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
return to the neighborhood of Boston, where, at that season, 
they are most often seen in small flocks, in which the females 
predominate. In moving about the country, they generally 
perch on or near the tops of trees, and from the very summit 
of some pine their notes may often be heard. They feed upon 
seeds, and upon insects, particularly beetles, to obtain which 
they frequent roads, pastures, and ploughed lands. From 
their fondness of seeking food about cattle their common name 
has arisen. When on the ground, they move with an extremely 
awkward gait, which is ordinarily a walk, though occasionally 
more rapid in the pursuit of some insect. The male pays his 
court, such as it is, to several females indifferently, and these 
latter, when ready to lay, retire from the flock. ‘They become 
anxious, skulk about from bush to bush and tree to tree, as if 
troubled by a guilty conscience, and watch the motions of the 
smaller birds. On discovering a nest, they seize the oppor- 
tunity of absence on the part of its owners to drop their eggs, 
and then return to their companions, relieved of anxiety. 
After these ceremonies one both hears and sees less of the 
Cow-birds than before, until the autumn, when, joined by their 
young, they often form large flocks. They are then chiefly 
dependent upon seeds, and are less common in pastures. 
(d). There is something ludicrous, and yet pitiable, in the 
efforts of the male to express his passions musically. It is of- 
ten as painful to hear him and see him, as to converse with one 
who stutters badly. He ruffles his feathers, spreads his wings 
and tail, gives a convulsive movement to his body, and yet 
produces nothing but a shrill, unmusical cluck-see. He often 
adds to this, or splutters out at other times, a chattering call, 
quite distinct from that of any other bird, or utters a few low 
guttural notes, not audible at a distance. He has in common 
with other members of his family a loud chuck; but he is not 
wholly destitute of musical powers. One may often hear in 
spring from the top of some tree, a clear, pensive, but rather 
shrill whistle, usually followed by a few similar but falling 
notes. These belong to the Cow-bird, who also whistles some- 
times as he takes to wing. 
