ICTERID.K — THE ORIOLES. ]57 



Mv. Xuttall staies tliat if a Cow J'.lackljird's egg is dopositod in a nest alone 

 it is uniibinily forsaken, and he also enumerates the Summer Yellowhird as 

 one of the nurses of tlie Cowhird. In both respects 1 think he is mistaken. 

 So far from forsaking her nest when one of tliese eggs is dejjosited, the Ifed- 

 eyed Vireo has heen known to eommence incuhatiou witliout having laid 

 any of her own eggs, and also to forsake her nest when tlie intrusive egg 

 has been taken and her own left. The B. ccstiva, I think, invariably covers 

 up and destroys the Cowbird's eggs when deposited before her own, and even 

 when deposited afterwards. 



The Cow niackbird has no attractions as a singer, and has nothing that 

 deserves the name of song. His utterances are harsh and unmelodious. 



In September they begin to collect in large Hooks, in localities favorable 

 for their sustenance. The Fresh Pond marshes in Cambridge were once 

 one of their chosen places of resort, in which they seemed to collect late in 

 September, as if coming from great distances. Tliere they remained until 

 late in October, wlien they passed .southward. 



Mr. Eidgway only met with this species in two places, the valley of the 

 Humboldt in September, and in June in the Truckee Valley. Their eggs 

 were also obtained in the AVahsatch jMountains, dejjosited in the nest of /V,s- 

 sf.rcUd schistaccn, and in Uear K'iver Valley in tlie nt>st of (liDthhipis tritlua^. 



Mr. Boardman informs me that the Cow lUackbird is a very rare bird in 

 the neighborliood of Calais, Me., .so much so that he does not .see one of 

 these birds once in five years, even as a l)ird of ]iassage. 



The eggs of this species are of a rounded oval, though some are more 

 oblong than others, and are nearly e(|ually rounded at eitlier end. They 

 vary from .85 of an inch to an inch in length, and from .G") to .70 in breadth. 

 Their ground-color is white. In some it is so thickly covered witli fine dot- 

 tings of asny and ))urplish-l»rown that tlie ground is not distinguisliable. In 

 others the egg is blotched with bold dashes of pur2)le antl wine-colored 

 brown. 



On the Kio Orande the eggs of the smaller soutlti'rn race were found in 

 the nests of Virco hdii, and in each f)f tlie nests of liie Viiro piinillua found 

 near Camp CJrant, Arizona, tliere was an egg of this species. At Cape St. 

 Lucas, Mr. Xantus found their eggs in nests of the J'dliojitild niilannra. 

 We have no information in regard to their habits, and can only infer that 

 they must be .sub.staiitially the same as those of the nortliorn birds. 



The eggs of the var. oltsmnis exhibit a very marked xariation in si/'j from 

 those of the var. pecori.f, and have a diflerent apjieai^ancc, though their colors 

 are nearly identical. Tlieir ground-color is white, and their markings a 

 claret-brown. These markings arc I'mvt'r, smaller, and less generally dis- 

 tributed, and the ground-color is much more apjmrent. They measure 

 .60 by .55 of an inch, and their capacity, as compared with the eggs of the 

 jwcoris is as 1)3 to 70, — a variation that is constant, and apparently too large 

 to be accounted for on clinuitic diil'erences. 



