Savage, Observations on the Cowbird. 5 



flying south and by the first of October the most of them have gone, except 

 a few young birds that sometimes remain throughout the winter. I have 

 never noted adult birds here after October. 



In the winter of 1892- '93 a flock of perhaps twenty-five young Cowbirds 

 of the year, stayed about a farmer's feed- lot near Salem. Even in the severest 

 weather they were seen feeding in the lot amcngst the cattle; when their 

 hunger was satisfied, they retired to the lee- ward side of the barn and nestled 

 close together. 



In speaking of the food of this bird, I cannot do better than to quote 

 from a paper of Prof. F. E. L. Beal's, which was read before the Biological 

 Society of Washington, in March, 1896. 



He gave the results of an examination of nearly 400 stomachs of the 

 Orowbird, collected in twenty states and the District of Columbia. Every 

 month in the year was represented except January and February, and the 

 food was found to consist of animal and vegetable matter, in the proportion of 

 about 28 per cent of the former to 72 per cent of the latter. Spiders and 

 harmful insects compose almost exclusively the animal food, while weed 

 seeds, waste grain and a few miscellaneous articles make up the vegetable 

 food. The conclusion was reached that this "black vagabond," as the 

 scientific men have termed \t,—Molothrus ater—Molothrus, Gr., vag- 

 abond ; a,^e7% Lat., black, — does much more good than harm and should be 

 protected. 



The most remarkable trait in this species is the unaccountable practice 

 it has of laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, instead of building a nest 

 and hatcLiug them for itself. It is a common thing to hear people condemn 

 the CowiJird on account of its parasitic habits. 



"Wilson says, '-What reason nature may have for this extra- ordinary 

 deviation from the general habits of birds is, I confess, altogether beyond my 

 comprehension. Many conjectures indeed might be formed as to the prob- 

 able cause ; bat all of them, that have occurred to me, are unsatisfactory and 

 inconsistant. Fatui-e and more numerous observations, made with care, may 

 throw hght on this matter ; till then we can only rest satisfied with the 

 reality of the fact." With the large number of observers that we have today, 

 this still remains an unsolved mystery. 



The female commences laying the latter part of April — the 22nd the 

 earUest date I have found then- eggs — and I have found fresh , eggs as late as 

 the 27th of July. This makes over four months as the breeding season ; one 

 female might lay a large number of eggs in this time. 



Of the forty-six bird's nests that I have examined the past season that 

 contained one or more eggs of the Cowbird, two were in April, twenty in 

 May, twenty-two in June, two in July, thus showing that in this locahty 

 most of the eggs are deposited in May and June. In the forty-six nests, 

 seventy Oowbird's eggs were found; twenty-six with only one egg of the 

 interloper, fifteen with two, two with three, one with four, one with five. 

 More than fifty-five per cent of the nests found only contained one Cowbird 

 egg. 



