MOLOTHRUS ATER : COW-BIRD. 297 



butes — is witnessed in the abundance of the species; 

 for the alien egg is usually hatched, and the young 

 reared successfully by the foster-parents, even to the 

 destruction of their own household. One of the most 

 singular thinors in the whole course of these events is, 

 that the young Cow-birds are wise enough to know 

 their own blood, if not exactly either parent; as evi- 

 denced by their flocking together as soon as they 

 can fly. 



The Cow-bird's egg is easily recognized, in most 

 cases, by its difference from those with which it is 

 found in the same nest ; though sometimes it not dis- 

 tantly resembles them, as when laid in the nest of a 

 Towhee Bunting, Brown Thrush, or Meadow Lark. 

 It averages perhaps 0.90X0.65 in size, and is dull 

 white in ground color, thickly and more or less finely 

 and uniformly dotted, sometimes blotched or clouded, 

 with chocolate brown. 



Mr. Minot has a paragraph on the Cow-bird which 

 I will quote: "There is something ludicrous, and yet 

 pitiable, in the efforts of the male to express his passions 

 musically. It is often 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 chatter- 

 ing call, quite distinct from that of any other bird, or 

 utters a few low guttural notes, not audible at any dis- 

 tance. He has in common with other members of his 

 family a loud c/iuc/c : 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 



