I4 THE COWBIRD. 



No. 5. 



COWBIRD. 



A. O. U. Xo. 495. Molothrus ater (Bodd.j. 



Synonyms. Cow BLACKBIRD; CUCKOLD. 



Description. Adult male: Head and neck wood-, seal-, or coffee-brown 

 (variable) ; remaining plumage black with metallic greenish or bluish irides- 

 cence. Female : Dark grayish brown, showing slight greenish reflections, dark- 

 est on wings and tail, lightening on breast and throat. Young in first plumage : 

 Like female but lighter below and more or less streaky ; above somewhat mottled 

 by buffy edgings of feathers. The young males present a striking appearance 

 when they are assuming the adult black, on the installment plan, by chunks and 

 blotches. Length 7.50-8.00 (190.5-203.2); wing 4.40 (in.8); tail 3.00-3.40 

 (76.2-86.4); bill .65 (16.5); tarsus .95-1.10 (24.1-27.9). Female, length, wing, 

 and tail one-half inch less. 



Recognition Marks. Chewink size; brown head and black body of male; 

 brown of female. 



Nesting. The Cowbird invariably deposits her eggs in the nests of other 

 birds. Eggs, i or 2, rarely 3 or 4, with a single hostess, white, often faintly 

 tinged with bluish or greenish, evenly speckled with cinnamon, brown or umber 

 Av. size, .85 x .65 (21.6 x 16.5), but quite variable. 



General Range. United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific, north into 

 southern British America, south in winter, into Mexico. 



Range in Ohio. Common throughout the state, but less so in heavilv tim- 

 bered regions. 



IF it were given us to revise the economy of nature we should certainly 



place this fellow upon the proscribed list. Judged by every sentiment of justice, 



human and avian, he is an outlaw, and all other birds at least would thank us 



if we set a price upon his head. To show how thoroughly accepted the opinion 



is among ornithologists, I cannot do better than quote Mr. Frank M. Chapman : 



"As an outcast he makes the best of things and gathers about him a band of 



cmdred spirits who know no law. There is an air about the group which 



the critical observer that their deeds are evil. No joyous song swells the 



throat of the male. His chief contribution to the chorus of springtime is a 



Jttural bubbling produced with apparently nauseous effort. In small flocks 



hey visit both pasture and woodland, and are given to following cattle clus- 



nng about the feet of the herd, presumably to feed on the insects found 



They build no nest, and the females, lacking every moral instinct, leave 



ir companions only long enough to deposit their eggs in the nests of other 



smaller birds. I can imagine no sight more strongly suggestive of a 



oughly despicable nature than a female Cowbird sneaking through the trees 



