COWBIRD. 



however, especially if the two or three eggs have heen laid, the 

 parents accept the task and the young parasite, when hatched, is 

 carefully tended. Not infrequently the birds thus imposed upon 

 will get rid of the obnoxious egg by building a second story to their 

 nest, leaving the jowbird's egg to addle in the basement. I saw a 

 summer warbler's nest on which two of such storeys had been built 

 with a cowbird's egg in each of the lower apartments. 



It is not known how many eggs the cowbird lays for a " set," but it 

 is probable that four or five is the complement. In size the egg is 

 about that of the bobolink's — much larger than those of many of 

 the foster parents. The ground color is dull white, sometimes 

 tinged with green or buff, and decorated with irregular markings, 

 in considerable profusion, of various shades of brown. These eggs 

 are hatched more quickly as a rule than the species they are 

 imposed upon, so that the young cowbirds usually appear before 

 their nest mates. The latter are not infrequently pushed out of the 

 nest by the parasite, who thus obtains more room as well as more 

 attention from the parents, and more food. 



The plumage of the male cowbird is iridescent black ; the head 

 and neck purplish brown. The female wears a costume of nearly 

 uniform dusky brown of a grayish hue, the under parts being 

 slightly paler than the back and wings. The wing-shafts being of 

 a slightly darker tint, the plumage appears somewhat streaky. 

 The bill and feet are black. The male measures about eight inches 

 from tip to tip, and the female is smaller. 



The cowbird occurs throughout the settled portions of Eastern 

 Canada, though it is not common in the Maritime Provinces, and is 

 seen in Southern Ontario during the spring and fall migrations only. 

 In classification this species is closely allied to the bobolink and the 

 redwinged blackbird, all these being members of the marsh black- 

 bird group of the icteridce, under which family name is gathered 

 the blackbirds, orioles, meadowlarks, and grackles. But though so 

 nearly related to some of our songsters the present species cannot 

 be credited with adding to the music of the fields, for its guttural 

 Muck Hsee, which it drawls in most aflfected fashion, does not 

 deserve to be dignified by the term song. 

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