THE COW BLACKBIRD. 163 



will hardly get out of the way. I have even known a young 

 bird to suffer itself to be taken in hand, and it is no uncom- 

 mon 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 back-bones, doubt- 

 less finding the scratching of their feet a comfortable sensa- 

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



In respect to its vocal performances, this bird is curious 

 rather than entertaining. Ruffing up its feathers, opening 

 wide its mouth, and appearing to strain every muscle, it 

 " seems literally to vomit up its notes," which bear a formal 

 resemblance, indeed, to those of the closely-related Red- 

 winged Blackbird, but are almost entirely destitute of their 

 claims to musical quality. The vocal utterances of Pecoris 

 do certainly " gurgle and blubber up out of him, falling on 

 the ear with a peculiar subtle ring, as of turning water from 

 a glass bottle," but, perhaps, on account of my prejudice, I 

 fail utterly to discover their "pleasing cadence." 



While other birds are busy building their nests, 

 this reckless free-lover betrays no impulse whatever in 

 this direction, but gayly flitting about from place to place, 

 spends his time in mere wanton pleasure. As soon as the 

 nests of other birds are completed, you may notice the 

 females of this dusky flock of Cow Birds becoming very 

 uneasy. One by one they steal away in quest of some 

 strange nest in which to deposit their eggs. They have 

 been known to search the ground, the bushes, and the trees 

 for miles in order to accomplish their purpose. Never 

 driving away the rightful owner, nor taking possession by 

 force, they will creep stealthily into the nest in the absence 

 of the owner, and hastily depositing an egg, hurry back to 

 join their company with the most obvious sense of relief, 

 and without the slightest further concern for their offspring. 



