THE COW-TROOPIAL, OR COW-BLACKB 



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Raven. 



Swallow-tailed Hawk, or American Kite. 



The Swallow-tailed Hawk, or American Kite, is found in the warmer latitudes of America. It lives on 

 snakes, lizards, insects and their larvjfe. It is about two feet long. It nests in tall trees, laying from 

 four to six eggs. 



The Cow-Troopial, or Cow-Blackbird, receives its name from its being so familiar around the cattle, picking 

 up the insects which they happen to disturb, or which exist in their ordure. Like the Cuckoo, this bird 

 never makes a nest or hatches its young. It deposits its eggs in the nest of the Fly Catcher, Yellow Bird, 

 t Song Sparrow, or some other small bird, and leaves them to hatch the eggs, and bring up the young birds. 



The Magpie is more common in Europe than in the United States, being confined in this country to the 

 plains and table lands or steppes of the Rocky Mountains west of the Mississippi, and the north-western 

 regions of the continent. They consequently experience annually, in the terrible vicissitudes of climate 

 incident to the countries they inhabit, like the Esquimaux of the antic regions, either a feast or a famine. 

 They assailed Colonel Pike's animals, and did not await the death of the subjects they tormented, but fed 

 upon them still living, till their flesh was raw and bleeding. They were so bold and familiar as to alight 

 on the men's arms, and eat flesh out of their hands. 



C281) 



Cow-Troopial. 



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