COWBIRD. 105 



Overhead the twigs, snow-outlined, made exqui- 

 site filigree against the pale blue sky. But sud- 

 denly, as the woods seemed to be holding its breath, 

 the yank of the nuthatch came first from one tree 

 and then another. A family of them were looking 

 for their dinner in the white forest. If the snow 

 covered the upper side of a branch, they ran along 

 upside-down on the under side ; if the south side 

 of a tree trunk was white, they walked, head down, 

 on the north side ; and there, too, was the little 

 drummer a downy woodpecker, flickering from 

 tree to tree even here, the merry band was find- 

 ing a place for itself in nature. As I passed on, 

 fainter and fainter came the note of the nuthatch. 

 I looked back through the woods ; the blue sky 

 was veiled by snow clouds, but behind them shone 

 the southern sun, pervading them with that won- 

 drous radiance of white light that only a winter 

 sky can show. 



XXIX. 



COWBIRD. 



THE cowbird is one of the smaller blackbirds. 

 The male has an iridescent body and purplish- 

 brown head and neck. The female has no bril- 

 liant coloring, and is decidedly dingy in appear- 

 ance. 



About the size of the kingbird, the cowbird im- 



