COWB1RD. 



year their numbers do not decrease." It is a fact that 

 the clearing of forests in the North and the introduction 

 of rice culture in the South have afforded a greater avail- 

 able breeding area for the Bobolink, and it has accord- 

 ingly increased in numbers. 



Cowbird This disreputable character, parasitic in 



Molothrus habit and degenerate in all moral instinct, 

 L.' Cr o inches & ets its name through its fondness for bo- 

 April ist vine society, and its fame from its Ibomi- 

 nable habit of laying its egg in another bird's nest. It 

 is not handsome, either. A hood of dark snuff-brown 

 extends from the crown to the neck and breast; the 

 general color otherwise is an iridescent black; the tail is 

 somewhat square at the tip. Female a grayish brown, 

 lighter beneath, and graded to whitish gray on the 

 throat. Egg, white marked with evenly distributed 

 specks of cinnamon or sepia brown, deposited in the 

 nest of another bird, generally that of a Sparrow, Vireo, 

 and Warbler. The bird is rare in the mountainous parts 

 of northern New England, but is distributed from this 

 point generally west and south. It is a walker, not a 

 hopper. 



The Cowbird has no song; his nearest approach to 

 music is a sort of guttural murmuring which, according 

 to Mr. Chapman, is produced with an apparently "nau- 

 seous effort." But these guttural chirps are an index to 

 the character of the bird; they are a harsh, metallic 

 gliick, zee-zee without rhythm or sentiment. Why 

 should they have either? The bird has no song no 

 mate to call. He is a polygamist, a bird of no princi- 

 ples, a " low-down" character. He usually goes with a 

 flock of other evil spirits just like himself, and their fa- 

 vorite resort is the cow-yard or the pasture where the 

 cattle graze. Very probably they have one good redeem- 

 ing quality : they keep myriads of insects in check which 

 otherwise would worry the life out of the cows; but no 

 one seems to be positively sure about that. It is certain, 

 however, that the young Cowbirds do no end of harm to 

 the bird families upon which they are foisted, for there 

 is many a dainty Warbler or Vireo pushed out of the 



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