CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 2. PASSERES. 



18^ 



breeding season the male has a few plaintive notes, usually uttered when some danger is appre- 

 hended from an intruder; the bird possesses a high ventriloquial power; often its voice seems to 

 come from a point near at hand, while it is in fact at the distance of ten or fifteen rods. When 

 assembled in flocks, the whole troop join in a chorus, especially at morning and evening, and 

 often fill the whole air with their somewhat discordant anthems. These birds pair, but yet a 

 sort of partial polygamy prevails among them ; they readily submit to confinement, and cheer- 

 fully sing their monotonous ditty in reward of attentions bestowed upon them; in some instances 

 they have been taught to articulate words. Their flesh is not greatly esteemed. 



Among numerous species of birds which have of late been brought within the list of those be- 

 longing to our own country, in consequence either of the extension of our territories, so as to in- 

 clude Texas, New Mexico, and California, or the new researches that have been made in these 

 regions, we may mention the Black-headed Oriole, /. melanocephalus^ beautifully figured by 

 Cassin. It is nine inches long ; head black, back and rump yellowish-green, wings black, under 

 parts bright yellow ; found in Texas and Mexico. 



Other species are as follows : I. xanthoccjyJiahcs, mne inches long; general color black ; head 

 neck, and breast yellow-orange; found in Missouri and Texas: /. tricolor, nine inches long; 

 bluish-black ; lesser wing-coverts carmine ; found in California : /. gubernator, nine inches long ; 

 glossy bluish-black ; found on the Columbia River : /. i?i<//ofA'//, seven inches long ; biack ; back, 

 rump, and belly yellow ; found on the Columbia River : /. Audubonil, eight and a half inches 

 long; black and greenish-yellow •, found in Texas : /, vulr/aris, black and yellow ; found in South 

 Carolina; and Lcucullatus^ seven and a half inches long, found in Texas and Mexico. 



THE COW-BLACKBIRD. 



Oenus MOLOTHRUS : Molothrus. — This includes the Cow-Blackbird — called by the various 

 names of Cow-Pen-Bird, Coio-Troopial, and Coio-Bunting — M.'pecoris ; it is seven in^ihcs long ; the 

 head and neck blackish-brown , the rest black. It is perpetually migratory and gregarious, moving 

 to the north in April, and usually at night, and retiring to its southern home in October. Most of 

 them pass the winter in the tropical regions ; some, however, remain in the Southern States. 

 While most other birds pair in spring, these release themselves from all hinderance in their wan- 

 derings, and continue to live in flocks, and in a state of general concubinage. Of all the feathered 

 tribes, this and the European cuckoo, with a few of its congeners belonging to the eastern continent, 

 and one South American species of Molothrus, allied to the one we are describing, are, so far as we 

 know, the only ones that do not build nests and rear their young. This, it is manifest, is not an 

 accident or a vice ; though they continually resort to deception to procure the hatching of their 

 eggs, it is the result of a system springing from a universal and abiding instinct. The whole 

 family, from the beginning, has been a race of foundlings. This seems like a caprice in nature, 

 or rather a contradiction of its general principles ; but such views arc, doubtless, the result ot our 

 ignorance. 



The number of nurses selected by this vagrant is considerable, the great favorites being the 

 Red-njed Fly-Catcher, the White-eyed Fly-Catcher, the Maryland Yellow-Throat, the Chipping- 



