COW-BIRDS. 



17 



Yellow-breast. I was surprised to find five more eggs 

 of the Cow-bird on the ground, close together, and 

 about three feet from the bus'h ; and these five eggs 

 were all pure white and unspotted. Naturally I asked, 

 How came these eggs in such a position? They had 

 not fallen from the nest, which was very deep, con- 

 tained few eggs, and was scarcely thirty inches above 

 the ground. Then they were all white, while those in 

 the nest were mottled. That the eggs had been laid 

 in the nest I felt certain ; and the only way I can 

 account for their being in the place where I found them 

 is that the Yellow-breast itself removed them, taking 

 them up in its bill, and flying with them to the 

 ground." 



This species appears to have been first imported into 

 Germany by Gudera, who received a single specimen in 

 1875 and a second in 1876.' The London Zoological 

 Gardens first secured it in 1877 ; Charles Jamrach first 

 imported it in 1879, and in 1882 it first reached the 

 Amsterdam Gardens. 



Why so common a bird, and one which could be 

 easily obtained, so rarely appears in the European bird- 

 markets it would be hard to say, unless its very 

 abundance makes the Argentine catchers consider it not 

 worth the trouble of trapping. 



GREEN OR YELLOW-BELLIED MAIZE-EATER (Pseudoleistes 

 guirahuro). 



Deep olive-brown ; the lesser upper wing-coverte, 

 lower back, abdomen and under tail and wing-coverts 

 bright yellow ; bill black ; feet dark brown. Female 

 said to be similar, but it probably differs as in the 

 preceding species, as Burmeister indeed states. Hab., 

 South Brazil, Paraguay, and Corrientes. 



" To be met with in the interior of Brazil, by ponds 

 and lakes, in the reeds, in small companies here and 

 there and pretty generally ; the birds are watchful and 

 cautious, usually quiet until one gives a sign, where- 

 upon the whole simultaneously burst out shrieking and 

 fly off." " The very spherical bluish-white red-spotted 

 egg is figured by D'Orbigny." (Burmeister, " Syste- 

 matische Uebersicht," III., p. 265.) 



This species was first represented in the Amsterdam 

 'Zoological Gardens in 1866, and in 1886 was imported 

 by Ruhe, of Alfeld, and was claimed by Messrs. 

 Darviot, of Bea-une. 



COMMON COW-BIKD (Molothrus pecoris). 



Male black shot with purplish-blue ; the head and 

 body below as far as the middle of the breast smoky 

 <or pale chocolate brown ; remainder of under surface 

 black shot with green ; bill and feet black. Female 

 smaller ; brown, mottled with black ; paler and with 

 darker shaft-spots on under surface ; throat ashy 

 whitish; bill smaller and narrower. Hab., North 

 America, southward through Mexico to Vera Cruz and 

 Oaxaca. 



J. G. Cooper (" Ornithology of California," pp. 258. 

 259) observes : " The remarkable habit of this bird of 

 laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, instead of 

 building for itself, relieves it from the usual necessity 

 of pairing in the spring, and it remains gregarious at 

 all seasons, though generally the flocks are not large, 

 except in autumn. They seemed to be migrating north- 

 ward through the Colorado Valley early in April, and 

 on the 19th of that month I found an egg of this bird 

 in a nest of the Yellowbreasted Chat (Icteria), showing 

 that some of them are raised in the lat. of 35 deg., as 

 well as northward. 



" According to Nuttall, the sexes are polygamous, not 

 even pairing like other small birds for one year. In 

 the East he found their eggs oftenest in the nests of 



the Vireo olivaceus, Geothlypis trichas, Spizella 

 socialis, Dendraeca cestiva, Polioptila ccerulea, and 

 other species corresponding to our Vireo Huttoni, 

 Sialia mexicana, Cyanospiza amcena, Melospiza He.tr- 

 manni, Sayornis nigricans, and Turdus nanus, all of 

 which may be supposed to act as nurses for this found- 

 ling bird in California. Though all much smaller than 

 the Cow-bird, and building in very different situatiors, 

 the foster-parents usually take good care of the large 

 egg found in their nest, especially if laid after one of 

 their own, and frequently begin to sit immediately, 

 although their own number is not complete. The Vireo 

 even sometimes deserts the nest if the egg of the Covf 

 bird is taken. The Dendrceca, however, is not so easily 

 deceived, as it sometimes builds a new floor or entire 

 nest over the strange egg, burying it completely. Larger 

 birds have been known to throw the egg out, but small 

 ones are unable to do this. The Icteria, whose own egg 

 is nearly as large, and quite differently coloured, seemed, 

 in the instance I saw, a willing dupe, though probably 

 quite able to eject the parasite. 



" The colour of the Cow-bird's egg is nearly pure 

 white, thickly sprinkled with points and blotches of 

 olive-brown, of two shades, most numerous near the large 

 end. Sometimes the egg is nearly pure white, with 

 very dark spots. It is small for the size of the bird, 

 obtuse, measuring about 0.71 x 0-56 inch, and is sup- 

 posed to be hatched in about twelve days, developing 

 sooner than the smaller eggs, perhaps because it obtains 

 more warmth by contact with the body of the bird. 

 When the legitimate eggs are hatched', the young are 

 eoon stifled by the larger and stronger foundling, which 

 gets most of the food brought by the old birds, and 

 fills up the small nest in. a few days. The parents then 

 carry off their own dead offspring, and drop them at a 

 distance, while the foundling, receiving their whole 

 attention, grows- rapidly, and after becoming fully 

 fledged deserts its deluded foster-parents for the society 

 of its own species. 



" The name of Cow-bird is derived from the partiality 

 of this species for the society of cattle and horses. In 

 the districts they inhabit they may almost always be 

 found among herds of cattle, walking after them to pick 

 up the insects distributed by their feet, and often 

 alighting on their backs and heads. They also associate 

 with their relatives, the other Blackbirds, especially in 

 fall and winter. 



" The males, especially in spring, utter a few guttural 

 croaking notes, either from the top of a tree, or occa- 

 sionally on the ground, sounding as if they tried to 

 imitate the more nmsical Redwings. They are at all 

 times watchful and suspicious, and the female, when 

 desirous of laying, shows much artfulness in searching 

 lor a suitable nest through the thickets, watching until 

 the owner is absent, and then taking the opportunity 

 to deposit her egg. Two eggs have been found in one 

 nest, but Nuttall thinks that in these cases one is always 

 abortive." 



Raiss says that at times this Cow-bird is quite common 

 in the German bird market, but doubtless this state of 

 things is now at an end. He says that he made several 

 attempts to breed the species by turning them loose with 

 many birds that were nesting, but they laid no eggs ; 

 he says that Messrs. Linden and Wiener made similar 

 attempts with like results. It has been exhibited in 

 the London Zoological Society's collection. 



\ 

 THE GREATER COW-BIRD (Molothrus ceneus). 



Black glossed with golden green ; wings and tail 

 purplish ; bill and. feet black. Female smaller, blackish 

 slightly glossed on the back and strongly on wings and 



B 



