BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 263 



Nest, none, the eggs being laid in the nests of other species. Eggs, white, 

 evenly and distinctly speckled with cinnamon-brown or umber, -86 x -65. 



The Cowbird is an acknowledged villain, and has no standing in 

 the bird world. English Sparrows, either because they are not aware 

 of the customs of New-World bird life, or because of a possible and 

 not unlikely affinity, associate with him ; but no self-respecting Ameri- 

 can bird will be found in his company. 



As an outcast he makes the best of things, and gathers about him 

 a band of kindred spirits who know no law. There is an air about the 

 group which at once tells the critical observer that their deeds are 

 evil. No joyous song swells the throat of the male. His chief con- 

 tribution to the chorus of springtime is a guttural bubbling produced 

 with apparently nauseous effort. In small flocks they visit both 

 pasture and woodland, and are given to following cattle, clustering 

 about the feet of the herd, presumably to feed on the insects found 

 there. They build no nest, and the females, lacking every moral and 

 maternal instinct, leave their companions only long enough to deposit 

 their eggs in the nests of other and smaller birds. I can imagine no 

 sight more strongly suggestive of a thoroughly despicable nature than 

 a female Cowbird sneaking through the trees or bushes in search of a 

 victim upon whom to shift the duties of motherhood. 



The ill-gotten offspring are born with the Cowbird character fully 

 developed. They demand by far the greater share of the food, and 

 through gluttony or mere size alone starve or crowd out the rightful 

 occupants of the nest. They accept the attention of their foster-par- 

 ents long after they could care for themselves ; and when nothing 

 more is to be gained desert them and join the growing flocks of their 

 kind in the grainfields. 



497. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (Bonap.). YELLOW- 

 HEADED BLACKBIRD. Ad. $ .Head, neck, throat, and breast orange-yellow ; 

 region before the eye and chin black ; outer wing-coverts white, rest of the 

 plumage black. Ad. ? . Forehead, line over the eye, sides of the head, throat, 

 and upper breast pale, dirty yellow, more or less mixed with white; lower 

 breast generally more or less marked with white ; rest of the plumage grayish 

 brown. L., 10-00 ; W., 5-50 ; T., 4-05 ; B., -85. 



Range. Western North America, north to Manitoba, east to Illinois; win- 

 ters from the Southern States southward ; accidental in Massachusetts, Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, South Carolina, and Florida. 



Washington, A. V., one instance, Aug. Cambridge, A. V., one record, Oct. 



Nest, bulky, of coarse reeds, grasses, etc., in marshes. Eggx, four to five, 

 grayish white, evenly and rather obscurely speckled with pale cinnamon- 

 brown, 1-00 x -72. 



" These birds are largely terrestrial in their habits, and during the 

 fall and winter months are generally distributed over the prairies and 



