890 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



No nest. Lays in the nests of other birds; number of eggs unknown. 

 Eggs, white, speckled and blotched with dark and light brown; .84 

 by .65. 



Abundant summer resident. Favorable winters, some remain in the 

 southern part of the State. Mr. E. J. Chansler found it remained in 

 some numbers at Bicknell, the winter of 1896-7. I found it as far 

 north as Brookville, November 24, 1887. They begin to return some 

 years very early. In 1882 I noted it at Brookville, February 28, while 



Cowbird, reduced. 



in 1883 I did not see one until April 4. Mr. V. H. Barnett noted it 

 at Spearsville, February 28, 1895, and March 6, 1894. The following 

 are earliest and latest dates of first arrival for places named: Greens- 

 burg, March 23, 1895, March 28, 1896; Sedan, March 6, 1889, April 

 17, 1894; Laporte, March 30, 1886, April 10, 1894; Lake County, 

 March 13, 1886; Petersburg, Mich., March 17, 1889, March 18, 1897. 

 The females arrive later in the spring than the males. They begin, 

 mating some years late in March, and continue well through April. 

 At Brookville, I have seen this beginning March 25, 1884. When 

 they arrive late in March, or after, they are mated. 



The Cowbird is polygamous. The dark male may be seen with sev- 

 eral lighter females. The attentions to them are very persistent. With 

 many motions, he puffs himself up, erects his feathers, droops his 

 wings and spreads his tail, conscious of his own importance. All this 

 ends in a farcical attempt to sing. Its ordinary call, Mr. Nehrling well 

 says, is a shrill "cluck-see"; while it has, also, a shrill one-syllable 

 screech. 



The Cowbird builds no nest. It is a parasite. As the European 

 Cuckoo, and to a limited extent our American species, lays eggs in the 

 nests of other birds for them to hatch and rear, so does this bird. 



