Red-winged Blackbird 141 



you peck holes in that egg, or roll it out of 

 your nest, or build another cradle rather than 

 hatch a big, gieedy interloper that would 

 smother and starve your own babies? Prob> 

 ably every cowbird you see has sacrificed the 

 lives of at least part of a brood of valuable^ 

 insectivorous songsters. Without the least 

 spark of gratitude in its cold heart, a young 

 cowbird grafter forsakes its over-kind foster 

 parents as soon as it can pick up its living 

 and remains henceforth among its own kin — 

 of whom only cows could think well. 



RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 



Called also: Swamp Blackbird 



When you are looking for the first pussy 

 willows in the frozen marshes, or listening to 

 the peeping of young frogs some day in early 

 spring, you will, no doubt, become acquainted 

 with this handsome blackbird, with red and 

 orange epaulettes on his shoulders, who has 

 just returned, from the South. ''Ke, kong- 

 ker-ee,'' he flutes from the willows and alders 

 about the reedy meadows where he and his 

 bachelor friends flock together and make them 

 ring "with social cheer and jubilee." A little 

 later, flocks of dingy, brown, streaked birds, 



