A FEATHERED PARASITE. 823 



fully perform the duties of nidification, as all respectable feathered 

 folk should. However, this parasitical habit breaks out, quite un- 

 expectedly it must be conceded, in another American family of birds 

 which is entirely distinct from the cuckoo group. 



In America the cowbird, often called the cow bunting, is the 

 only member of the avian household that spirits its eggs into the 

 nests of other birds. The theory of evolution can do little toward 

 accounting for the anomaly, and even if it should venture upon 

 some suggestions it would still be just as difficult to explain the cause 

 of the evolution in this special group, while all other avian groups 

 follow the law of thrift and self-reliance. 



The cowbird belongs to the family of birds scientifically known 

 as Icteridce, which includes such familiar species as the bobolinks, 

 orioles, meadow larks, and the various kinds of blackbirds, none of 

 which, I am glad to say, are parasites. The name Molothrus has 

 been given to the genus that includes the cowbirds. They are con- 

 fined to the American continent, having no analogues in the lands 

 across the seas. The same may be said, indeed, of the whole Ideridce 

 family. It may be a matter of surprise to many persons that there 

 are twelve species and subspecies of cowbirds in North and South 

 America, for most of us are familiar only with the common cow- 

 bird (Molothrus ater) of our temperate regions. Of these twelve 

 species only three are to be found within the limits of the United 

 States, one is a resident of western Mexico and certain parts of Cen- 

 tral America, while the rest find habitat exclusively in South Amer- 

 ica. A fresh field of investigation is open to some enterprising and 

 ambitious naturalist who wishes to study several of these species, as 

 comparatively little is known of their habits, and indeed much still 

 remains to be learned of the whole genus, familiar as one or two of 

 the species are. Their sly, surreptitious manners render them ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to study at close range and with anything like 

 detail. 



Are all of them parasites? It is probable they are at least 

 to a greater or less degree except one, the bay-winged cowbird of 

 South America, which I shall reserve for notice later on in this ar- 

 ticle. We might assert that our common cowbird is the parasite 

 par excellence of the family, for, so far as I can learn from reading 

 and observation, they never build their own nests or rear their own 

 young, but shift all the duties of maternity, save the laying of the 

 eggs, upon the shoulders of other innocent birds. 



These avian " spongers " have a wide geographical range, in- 

 habiting the greater part of the United States and southern Canada, 

 except the extensive forest regions and some portions of the South- 

 ern States. The center of their abundance is the States bordering 



