THE CUCKOOS AND THE OUTWITTED COW-BIRD 2J 



what is less to its credit, it has apparently found a 

 scapegoat, to which it would ever appear anxious 

 to call our attention, as it stammers forth, in ac- 

 cents of warning, " c, c, cow, cow, cow ! cowow, 

 cowow!" It never gets any further than this; 

 but doubtless in due process of vocal evolution 

 we shall yet hear the "bunting," or "blackbird," 

 which is evidently what he is trying to say. 



Owing to the onomatopoetic quality of the 

 " kow, kow, kow !" of the bird, it is known in some 

 sections as the " kow-bird," and is thus confounded 

 with the real cow-bird, and gets the credit of her 

 mischief, even as in other parts of the country, 

 under the correct name of " cuckoo," it bears the 

 odium of its foreign relative. 



For though we have no disreputable cuckoo, 

 ornithologically speaking, let us not congratulate 

 ourselves too hastily. We have his counterpart 

 in a black sheep of featherdom which vies with 

 his European rival in deeds of cunning and cru- 

 elty, and which has not even a song to recom- 

 mend him — no vocal accomplishment which by 

 the greatest of license could prompt a poet to 

 exclaim, 



" I hear thee and rejoice," 



without having his sanity called in question. 

 The cow-blackbird, it is true, executes a certain 



