COW-PEN BIRD. 



491 



cannot help thinking that in this matter he has been 

 deceived. Perhaps he is correct : but, in that case, 

 he must either have in his part of the cormtry a 

 distinct species of Goldfinch, or its habits and those 

 of the Cow Bird must be very different there from 

 w^hat they are here. At aU events, it is utterly 

 impossible that such an occiurence could ever have 

 taken place in Massachusetts. I think, therefore, 

 that the Goldfinch should be struck from the list 

 of those species in the nests of which the Cow 

 Bird lays. On the other hand, Syhla Blacklurnice 

 and 8. vermivora are to be added to it. The Cow 

 Bird is very common at Boston, having its eggs in 

 the nests of the White-eyed Vireo, the Red-eyed, 

 and any other that it chances to encounter, and de- 

 parting in autumn for the south. 



The digestive organs and trachea of this bird 

 have already been described, at p. 234 of the pre- 

 sent volume ; but the figures were then accident- 

 ally omitted. The oesophagus, ah c d,'\s, consider- 

 ably dilated on the neck ; the stomach, e, is a 

 strong muscular gizzard, having the lateral mus- 

 cles large and distinct, the lower prominent, the 

 epithelium longitudinally rugous. The intestine, 

 of which the commencement only is here repre- 

 sented,/^, is rather short and of moderate width. 

 The cceca are an inch distant from the extremity, 

 and about a quarter of an inch in length ; and the 

 rectum forms only a slight dilatation in place of a 

 cloaca. 



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