CROW RELATIVES 



familiarity with men. But before July is out, presto, 

 they are "Reedbirds," plain in dress, shy roamers in 

 flocks, which levy toll upon the growing grain. 



It is no easy task to find the Bobolinks' nest, hidden 

 away snugly in the long grass. The garrulous male 

 gives warning of our approach and the female sneaks 

 from the nest, so that in vain do we try to flush her. 

 But Ned and I have learned a trick or two. We get a 

 rope a hundred feet or more in length, and in the 

 evening or on a rainy day, having secured permission of 

 the owner of the land, course systematically over the 

 fields the distance of the length of the rope apart, 

 dragging it between us and watching its progress. 

 Suddenly up goes a brown bird, perhaps midway along 

 the rope where it has just swished over the grass. 

 Keeping our eyes on the spot where it started, we drop 

 the rope and hurry there, and, on hands and knees, 

 presently find the frail nest of dry grass with its five or 

 six handsomely marked eggs, or an equal number of 

 thriving young for which the meadow has produced 

 abundance of insect or other foods. 



Another of these quasi-blackbirds is that parasite, 

 the enemy of the small birds, generally known as Cow- 

 bird, but it is also called Cow Bunting, or even Cow 

 Blackbird. The latter name it deserves well enough, 

 for the male is shiny black, all but its brown head and 

 neck. The "cow" part of its various names it has 

 earned by its fondness for the company of cattle. I 

 have seen them on the backs of the cattle like big flies 



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