THE CASSIQUES AND HANGNESTS 1531 



clearer in the stillness. By the middle of May they have all passed: a few, it is 

 stated, linger to breed south of New England, but the main body passes on, spread- 

 ing over that portion of the Union and the neighboring British provinces, occupying 

 in pairs almost every meadow. The change of plumage is completed before the 

 return movement is made." Millions return on their southern journey, late in the 

 summer and during September. They are now songless, but have a comfortable, 

 self-satisfied chink, befitting such fat and abandoned gourmands as they are, throng- 

 ing in countless hordes the wild rice tracts and the grain fields. So they go until 

 the first cold snap that sends them into winter quarters at once. The bobolink 

 nests upon the ground making a rude and flimsy structure of dried grass, which is 

 artfully concealed. It lays four or five eggs, bluish white in ground color, 

 blotched and spotted with dark chocolate. The male in the breeding season has 

 the head and lower parts black; the hind-neck buff; the scapulars, rump, and upper 

 tail coverts ashy white; the interscapulars streaked with black, buff, and ashy; and 

 the outer quills edged with yellow. The nuptial garb just described is, however, 

 unlike the plain plumage worn by both sexes after the breeding season, when the 

 general color of the plumage is yellowish brown above, and brownish yellow below; 

 the crown and back being conspicuously streaked with black, and the wings and 

 tail blackish. 



Nearly allied to the last genus, the cowbirds possess a short, conical 

 bill, long and pointed wings, slightly-rounded tail, and strong feet. In 

 the majority of the species black is the prevailing color, being sometimes lustrous, 

 with bronzed reflections. The cowbirds are mainly a South- American genus, 

 although one species is only too well known in the United States. Some of the 

 species seize upon the nests of other birds, and having driven away the rightful 

 possessors, proceed to rear their own young in their new home. The majority, 

 however, are more truly parasitical, depositing their eggs in other birds' nests, and 

 leaving the strangers to hatch and rear their own offspring. The common cowbird 

 (Molothrus pecoris) of the United States is a polygamous species; the sexes never 

 mating, and their association being merely a herding together in quest of food. ' ' In 

 the West," says Dr. Coues, "every wagon train passing over the prairies in sum- 

 mer is attended by flocks of these birds; every camp and stock coral, permanent or 

 temporary, is besieged by the busy birds, eager to glean subsistence upon the wasted 

 forage. Their familiarity under these circumstances is surprising. Perpetually 

 wandering about the feet of the draught animals, or perching upon their backs, 

 they become so accustomed to man's presence that they will hardly get out of the 

 way. I have even known a young bird to suffer itself to be taken in the hand, and 

 it is no uncommon thing to have the birds fluttering within a few feet of one's 

 head. The animals appear to rather like the birds, and suffer them to perch in a 

 row upon their backbones, doubtless finding the scratching of their feet a comfort- 

 able sensation, to say nothing of the riddance from insect parasites." 



The cowbird's foster parents are numerous, notably the summer yellowbird, 

 the Maryland yellowthroat, and the red-eyed vireo. It is rare to find more than 

 two eggs of this cowbird in a single nest, although as many as five have been 

 found together. In color the eggs are white, speckled with brown. The adult 



