Cowhird 139 



a dozen of them on a skewer may be bought, 

 plucked and ready for the oven, for fifty cents 

 or less. Isn't this a tragic fate to overtake 

 our joyous songsters ? Birds that have the mis- 

 fortune to like anything planted by man, pay 

 a terribly heavy penalty. 



Such bobolinks as escape death, leave this 

 country by way of Florida and continue their 

 four thousand mile journey to southern Brazil, 

 where they spend the winter; yet, nothing 

 daunted by the tragedies in the rice fields, 

 they dare return to us by the same route in 

 May. By this time the males have made 

 another complete change of feather to go 

 a-courting. Most birds are content to moult 

 once a year, just after nursery duties have ended ; 

 some, it is true, put on a partially new suit in 

 the following spring, retaining only their old 

 wing and tail feathers; but a very few, the 

 bobolink, goldfinch, and scarlet tanager among 

 them, tmdergo as complete a change as Harle- 

 quin. 



COWBIRD 



This contemptible bird every child should 

 know if for no better reason than to despise it. 

 You will see it alone or in small flocks walkinsr 

 about the pastures after the cattle; or, in the 



