$0jpufar SBittiannr^ at gtofmateir fixture. 153 



respect there is some analogy between the 

 Cottidve and some of the higher classes of 

 animals; it having been observed that the 

 quadrupeds and birds common to the Old 

 and New Worlds are species that have a high 

 northern range. Sir John Kichardson, M. U., 

 Fauna Bor. Amer. 



COTTUS. A genus of Acanthopterygious 

 fishes, chiefly characterized by having a 

 large head, furnished more or less with 

 spines or tubercles. [See BULL-HEAD.] 



COW. The female of the Bovine species, 

 and the most valuable to man of all rumi- 

 nating quadrupeds. [See OA.] 



COW-BUNTING. (Molothrus pecoris.) 

 A well-known Passerine bird in North 

 America, the most remarkable trait in the 

 character of which is, the unaccountable 

 practice it has of dropping its eggs into the 

 nests of other birds, instead of building 

 and hatching for itself; and thus entirely 

 abandoning its progeny to the care and 

 mercy of strangers. " About the 25th of 

 March, or early in April," says Wilson, 

 " the cowpen bird makes his first appearance 

 in Pennsylvania from the south, sometimes 

 in company with the red-winged blackbird, 

 more frequently in detached parties, resting 

 early in the morning, an hour at a time, on 

 the tops of trees near streams of water, ap- 

 pearing solitary, silent, and fatigued. They 

 continue to be occasionally seen, in small 

 solitary parties, particularly along creeks 

 and banks of rivers, so late as the middle of 



June ; after which we see no more of them 

 until about the beginning or middle of 

 October, when they re-appear in much larger 

 flocks, generally accompanied by numbers 

 of the redwings ; between whom and the 

 present species there is a considerable simi- 

 larity of manners, dialect, and personal re- 

 semblance. In these aerial voyages, like 

 other experienced navigators, they take ad- 

 vantage of the direction of the wind, and 

 always set out with a favourable gale." 



" It is well known to those who have paid 

 attention to the manners of birds, that, after 

 their nest is fully finished, a day or two 

 generally elapses before the female begins 

 to lay. This delay is in most cases neces- 

 sary to give firmness to the yet damp ma- 

 terials, and allow them time to dry. In 

 this state it is sometimes met with, and laid 

 in by the Cow-Bunting, the result of which 

 I have invariably found to be the desertion 

 of the nest by its rightful owner, and the 



consequent loss of the egg thus dropt in it 

 by the intruder. But when the owner her- 

 self has begun to lay, and there are one or 

 more eggs in the nest before the Cow -Bunting 

 deposits hers, the attacliment of the pro- 

 prietor is secured, and remains unshaken 

 until incubation is fully performed, and the 

 little stranger is able to provide for itself. 

 * * * I have never known more than one 

 egg of the Cow- Bunting dropt in the same 

 nest. This egg is somewhat larger than 

 that of the blue-bird, thickly sprinkled with 

 grains of pale brown on a dirty white ground. 

 It is of a size proportionable to that of the 

 bird." 



" What reason Nature may have for thia 

 extraordinary deviation from her general 

 practice is, I confess, altogether beyond my 

 comprehension. There is nothing singular j 

 to be observed in the anatomical structure 

 of the bird that would setm to prevent, or 

 render it incapable of incubation. The ex- 

 treme heat of our climate is probably one 

 reason why, in the months of July and 

 August, they are not to be seen here. Yet 

 we have many other migratory birds that 

 regularly pass through Pennsylvania to the 

 north, leaving a few residents behind them ; 

 who, without exception, build their own 

 nests and rear their own young. This part 

 of the country also abounds with suitable 

 food, such as they usually subsist on. Many 

 conjectures, indeed, might be formed as to 

 the probable cause ; but all of them that 

 have occurred to me are unsatisfactory and 

 inconsistent. Future, and more numerous 

 observations, made with care, particularly 

 in those countries where they most usually 

 pass the summer, may throw more light on 

 this matter ; till then, we can only rest satis- 

 fled with the reality of the fact." 



The length of this species is seven inches, 

 breadth eleven inches ; the head and neck 

 is of a very deep silky drab ; the upper part 

 of the breast a dark changeable violet ; the 

 rest of the bird is block, with a considerable 

 gloss of green when exposed to a good light : 

 the tail is slightly forked : legs and claws, 

 glossy black, strong, and muscular ; iris of 

 the eye, dark hazel. The young male birds 

 are at first altogether brown, and for a 

 month or more are naked of feathers round 

 the eye and mouth ; the breast is also spotted 

 like that of a thrush, with light drab and 

 darker streaks. In about two months after 

 they leave the nest, the black commences at 

 the shoulders of the wings, and gradually 

 increases along each side, as the young 

 feathers come out, until the bird appears 

 mottled on the bock and breast with deep 

 black, and light drab. At three months the 

 colours of the plumage are complete, and 

 except in moulting, they are subject to no 

 periodical change. 



COWRIES. A genus of shells used in 

 the East Indies, and many parts of Africa, 

 as the current coin of the natives. [See 



COW-FISH. [See MAXATUS.] 



COYPU. (J/j/opotamiM coypvg.') A South 

 American rodent animal, resembling the 



