490 COW- PEN BIRD. 



The trachea is 2i inches long, flattened, slender, being only 1^ 

 twelfth wide at the upper part ; its rings 54, well ossified ; the lateral 

 muscles are moderate, as are the sterno-tracheal ; the inferior laryngeal 

 very large, and disposed in four pairs. The bronchi are of moderate 

 size, and of about 12 half rings. 



COW-PEN BIRD. 



Icterus pecoris, Bonap. 



PLATE XCIX. Vol.. I. p. 443. 



" You can hardly expect," writes my friend Dr Brewer, " that I 

 should add any thing to the detailed account which 1 have already given 

 you of this bii'd, and yet I cannot butthink that much remains to be told re- 

 specting its habits. Many circumstances relative to its history still solicit 

 the attention of the inquisitive naturalist, but of these I am not at present 

 qualified to speak. There is one subject, however, on which I may offer a 

 few remarks, namely, its laying in the nest of Fringilla tristis. Wilson 

 first asserted that it burdens that species with the charge of its Qgg ; but 

 Mr NuTTALL denies the possibility of such an occurrence, on the ground 

 that the Cow Blackbirds are not present at the time when the Goldfinch is 

 breeding. For this, however, Mr Ord takes him to task, and states that 

 he has himself seen a Cow Bunting's egg in the nest of the bird in ques- 

 tion. Now, it appears to me, that when we consider how extremely 

 incorrect Wilson's description of the nest and eggs of Fringilla tristis 

 is, very httle reliance can be placed upon his assertion in this case. I 

 can add my testimony to the authority of Mr Nuttall as to the absence 

 of the Cow Bird from this State while the Goldfinch is breeding here. 

 The former leaves Massachusetts before the first of July, sometimes 

 earlier, indeed by the middle of June, and never lays on its return late 

 in September. I have never found the nest of the Goldfinch before the 

 7th of August, although Mr Nuttall states that it breeds in July. 

 But then Mr Ord says that he has himself witnessed the occurrence. 

 I would be the last person to doubt that gentleman's veracity, nor have 

 I the shghtest idea that he would wilfully make a mistatement ; yet I 



