16 THE COWBIRD. 
Much was formerly made, especially in New England, of the mysterious 
disappearance of the Cowbirds during the months of July and August. At 
this season they gather in large flocks, but are not much noticed because of their 
almost unbroken silence. Late in summer they are moulting and keep pretty 
closely to out-of-the-way woods during this trying time. In northern Ohio I 
have repeatedly watched companies of from five hundred to two thousand 
during August, as they passed silently about the tree-tops, or as they settled to 
their accustomed roosts in a grove. On the other hand I once spent ten days 
at the same season, along the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, without seeing a 
single Cowbird. Yet I have no reason to doubt that there were as many birds 
in the latter region as in the former. 
Specimens shot in August contained, besides small quantities of wheat 
gleaned from the ground, large numbers of grasshoppers. If one were ever 
disposed to be lenient toward this repulsive bird, it might well be during the 
grasshopper season. 
Taken near Ashtabula. Photo by F. D. Snyder. 
THE BIRDS’ MIRROR. 
