THE CUCKOOS AND THE OUTWITTED COW-BIRD 2/ 



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 



