Chap. 3. 



BIRDS OF VERMONT. 



69 



THE COW BLACK-BIRD. 



die of May. These are usually construct- 

 ed in a thicket of alders, or other bushes, 

 at tlie height only of a few feet from the 

 ground, and are made of the leaves of 

 flags, swamp-grass, &c., something in the 

 form of that of the Golden Robin. The 

 eggs, varying from 3 to 5 in number, are 

 bluish white, with irregular faint purple 

 markings on the larger end. About the 

 beginning of September they begin to col- 

 lect in flocks, and sometimes do consid- 

 erable damage to the unripe corn. But 

 it is believed that the advantage derived 

 from these birds in the destruction of 

 larvflB and insects in the spring of the 

 year vastly more than compensates for all 

 the damage they do It is stated by 

 Kalm, that after a great destruction of 

 these and the common Black-Birds for 

 the legal reward of 3d. per dozen, in 1748, 

 the worms and grubs multiplied so ex- 

 ceedingly as to destroy a great part of the 

 grass in New England. * 



THE COW BLACK-BIRD. 



Icterus jjccoris. — Tem. 



Description. — Color glossy black with 

 violet reflections from the back and breast; 

 head and neck above and below dusky 

 cinamon brown ; bill robust, conical, acute, 

 slightly compressed towards the end, and 

 of a glossy black color; upper mandible 

 rounded and encroaching a little upon 

 the forehead, sides of the lower mandable 

 inflected; nostrils basal and partly cov- 

 ered; neck short, body robust; tarsus 

 compressed, acute behind and covered 

 anteriorly with seven longish scutella; 

 toes free, lateral ones nearly equal ; legs, 

 feet, and claws brownish black. Tail 

 rather short and slightly forked. Wino-s 

 longish, curved, slightly rounded and the 

 2d and 3d quills longest. Length of the 

 specimen before me 7 inches; folded 

 wing 4 J, spread of the wings 12, tail reach- 

 es I inch beyond the folded w^ing. Fe- 

 male less than the male, and of a dusky 

 color. 



History. — The Cow Black-Bird de- 



* Travels in Novtli Amei icii, I — 372. 



rives its name from its habit of being 

 much among the cattle as they are feed- 

 ing in the pastures. Its food consists al- 

 most entirely of insects, and it might be 

 regarded as a public benefactor were it 

 not for certain habits which render it de- 

 te.stable and prevent its receiving the 

 credit to which its good qualities would 

 otherwise entitle it. Being strangers to 

 the joys which spring from conjugal fi- 

 delity and having a strong aversion to do- 

 mestic cares, this bird contrives to escape 

 them by laying its eggs in the nests of 

 other birds. This it does in the absence 

 of the owners of the nest, and when the 

 owners return they usually manifest much 

 uneasiness and make strong eflbrts to 

 throw out the intruded egg. When they 

 do not succeed in this, they often build 

 a flooring over the strange egg and ele- 

 vate the sides so as to form a new nest 

 within the old. But in many cases cir- 

 cumstances will not allow them time for 

 this labor, and then they are obliged pa- 

 tiently to submit to the imposition. The 

 egg of the Cow-Bird is always hatched 

 first, and the young by its superior size 

 often smothers the lawful heirs. The 

 proprietors of the nest, however, feed the 

 foundling and treat it with the same kind- 

 ness as if it were their own ofl'spring. 



A case of this intrusion of the Cow 

 Black-Bird occurred in Burlington in 

 1840, in the garden of my friend R. G. 

 Cole, Esq. Cashier of the Burlington 

 Bank. He had noticed a pair of common 

 yellow birds, Fringilla trist.is, busily en- 

 gaged for several days in building a nest 

 upon one of his trees. A day or°two af- 

 ter he had supposed it complete, he no- 

 ticed that it had suddenly undergone a 

 very considerable enlargement, so much 

 so that his curiosity was excited, and 

 upon examining it he found that it consis- 

 ted of two nests, one within the otlier,and 

 that the lower nest contained an egg of 

 the Cow Black-Bird. The upper nest was 

 entirely of cotton, and upon the circum- 

 stance being known, it was found that 

 my friend Mr.S.E. Howard, whose yard is 

 adjacent to the garden containing the 

 nest, had observed two birds eagerly 

 searching his premises for building mate- 

 rials, and that he had, with his accustom- 

 ed liberality, purposely thrown out sev- 

 eral handfuls of cotton, all of which dis- 

 appeared in the course of a few hours, 

 and were found neatly wrought into the 

 nest above-mentioned. 



The egg of the Cow Black-Bird is a 

 little larger than that of the Blue bird, 

 oval, whitish tinged with green and spot- 

 ted with brown. Its notes are aflected 

 and unpleasant. 



