84 VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



Rice-Bird, is larger than a Bluebird, of a black and 

 cream color, the female yellowish brown. It is seen in 

 meadows during the summer; and its jingling song, ut- 

 tered from a low tree, or bush, or tall weed, or upon the 

 wing, is familiar to all who live in the country. Late 

 in the summer they fly southward, and are seen in 

 immense flocks around grain-fields and along the mar- 

 gins of creeks and rivers, where the tops of the reeds 

 are bent with ripe seeds. Thousands are shot by the 

 hunters and sold in the markets, where they are called 

 Reed-Birds*. 



The Cow-Bird is larger than the Bobolink, and, in 

 respect to its habits, is the most singular bird in North 

 America. For some reason which is not understood 

 it never makes a nest, but, like the European Cuckoo, 

 stealthily lays its eggs, only one in a place, in the nests 

 of Warblers, Flycatchers, Bluebirds, Sparrows, and the 

 Golden-crowned Thrush. The egg is grayish blue, 

 marked with brown dots and short streaks. And it is 

 a curious fact that this egg hatches before the eggs of 

 the bird in whose nest it is laid. Just as soon as the 

 young Cow-Bird is hatched, the foster-parents leave 

 their own eggs and fly off to get food for it, and hence 

 the young in their eggs die, and the eggs are soon 

 thrown from the nest. Then the young Cow-Bird re- 

 ceives the whole attention of those that have been 

 compelled to adopt it, and they feed it till long after it 

 can fly, and until it is larger than the foster-parents 

 themselves. The head and neck of the Cow-Bird is of 

 a chocolate color, the rest of the body lustrous black ; 

 the female is light brown. 



The Red-winged Blackbird is about as large as the 

 robin, shining black, with the shoulder and a part of the 



