ORNITHOLOGY. 



5S£ 



Insessores. depositing, like our European cuckoo, its eggs in the nests 

 N "-~V"""' of other birds. The circumstances by which Wilson first 

 became acquainted with this peculiar habit are as follows. 

 He had in numerous instances found in the nests of three 

 or four particular species, one egg much larger and dif- 

 ferently marked from those beside it. He at length de- 

 tected the female of this cow-bunting, as he calls it, in the 

 act, that is, sitting in the nest of the red-eyed fly-catcher, 

 (her eyes might well be red, if she had ever fondly hoped 

 for a legitimate posterity), which happens to be a very 

 small one, and singularly constructed. Suspecting her 

 purpose (and truly her position was more than suspicious), 

 he cautiously withdrew without disturbing her, and had the 

 satisfaction to find on his return, that she had left an egg 

 exactly like that just alluded to. He afterwards, in many 

 instances, found the young cow-bunting in the nest of these 

 and of other birds, and also observed the latter followed 

 by a foster child calling most clamorously for food. The 

 cow-bird is gregarious and migratory, entering the middle 

 and northern states about the end of March or beginning 

 of April, and passing northwards as the season becomes 

 milder. It arrives in the fur-countries in May, ranges to 

 the sixtieth parallel, departs in September, and collects in 

 large flocks in Pennsylvania during the following months, 

 after which it retires to winter in the more southern states 

 and Mexico. Its food consists of grain, grass, and worms, 

 particularly certain intestinal ones, which it finds in the 

 dung of cattle. The cow-bunting never pairs, and a state of 

 general concubinage seems to prevail amongst them. Bred 

 up as foundlings in the nests of other birds, and fed by 

 foster parents, — owing their existence and preservation 

 to a system of cunning deception, and commencing their 

 career by the destruction of the natural inmates of that 

 mossy dwelling in which they passed their own delusive 

 infancy, — what hopes can here be cherished of the hallowed 

 growth of home affections ? When the female is disposed 

 to lay, she appears restless and dejected, and separates 

 herself from the unregarding males, who care not for pos- 

 terity. Stealing through the woods and thickets, she pries 

 insidiously into every bush and branch for a nest that suits 

 her fancy, and into it she darts in absence of the owner, 

 and in a few minutes is seen to rise upon the wing, re- 

 lieved from all maternal care. If the egg be deposited 

 alone, that is, in a previously empty nest, it is almost uni- 

 formly forsaken ; but if the nursing mother has any of her 

 own she immediately begins to sit. The red-eyed fly- 

 catcher ( Vireo olivaceus) proves a most assiduous foster- 

 parent. In the beautiful basket-like nest of one of these 

 birds, Mr Nuttall found an egg of each species, and the 

 female fly-catcher already sitting. He removed her own 

 egg, and left that of the stranger. She soon returned, 

 and, as if sensible of what had happened, gazed stead- 

 fastly, shifted the egg, sat on it for a time, moved off, re- 

 newed her observation, and at length settled down upon 

 her nest. Two or three days after, however, she was 

 found to have left the premises. Yet another bird for- 

 sook two eggs of her own, because that of the cow-bird 

 was taken away, — which proves that there is no account- 

 ing for tastes. The blue bird, which exhibits a strong 

 attachment to its breeding places, affords one of the few 

 examples of a species not refusing to lay after the stran- 

 ger's egg has been first deposited. Mr Pickering observ- 

 ed two nests of the blue-eyed yellow warbler, in which, 

 previous to their own laying, an egg of the cow-bird had 

 been deposited, and finding themselves unable to eject it, 

 the warblers buried it in the bottom of the nest, by build- 

 ing over it an additional story ! The egg of the cow-bird, 

 perhaps from being larger, and coming thus into closer 

 contact with the body of its nurse, is sooner hatched than 



the others. The produce of the latter, though often stifled, Insessoieg. 



are sometimes reared along with the intruder. If the na- y— "v— -^ 



tural offspring die, they are found lying at some distance 



from the nest, and not directly beneath it, which shows 



that they are carried out by the parents, and not heaved 



over by the giant intruder, as in the case of our European 



cuckoo. When fully fledged, the cow-bird soon deserts 



his foster-parents, and skulks for a time about the woods, 



till he instinctively joins a few of his own blood, and then 



he seeks his food more boldly (five or six together), in the 



fields and lanes. 1 This bird measures about seven inches 



in length. The head and neck are blackish-brown, the 



rest black, glossed above with green, and on the breast 



with violet. 



The Baltimore oriole is another beautiful species of Ic- 

 terus, — I. Baltinwrus. . The male is orange, with the head, 

 neck, upper part of the back, and greater portion of the 

 wings, black. It winters in South America, but makes its 

 appearance in the United States in spring, where its ar- 

 rival is hailed as the sure harbinger of warmth and sun- 

 shine. Full of life and activity, it is seen vaulting like a 

 fiery sylph among the boughs of lofty trees, vanishing 

 with restless inquietude, and again flashing quickly into 

 sight from amidst some wreath of waving foliage, showing 

 like a living gem amid the green adornment of the leafy 

 forest. The most remarkable instinctive feature of this 

 bird is displayed in the structure of its nest, which con- 

 sists of a pendulous cylindrical pouch of six or seven inches 

 in depth, usually suspended almost from the extremity of 

 some lofty drooping branch. The materials, according to 

 Wilson, are flax, hemp, cow-hair, and wool, woven into a 

 complete cloth, the whole being tightly sewed through 

 and through with long horse-hairs, several of which mea- 

 sure two feet in length. The bottom is composed of thick 

 tufts of cow-hair, also sewed, and strengthened with strong 

 horse-hair. The materials, however, vary, and so solici- 

 tous is the bird to procure the best that can be possibly 

 obtained, that during the building season the women in 

 the country are under the necessity of narrowly watching 

 their thread when bleaching. 



The genus Oxyrhynchus, Temm., has the conical sharp- 

 pointed bill of the Icteri, but it is shorter than the head. 

 Example, O. cristatus, Swainson's Illustrations, vol. iii. pi. 

 49, — a Brazilian species. The genus Dacnis of Cuvier is 

 formed by the Motacilla cayana of Linn. 



The genus Sturnus, Linn., also resembles the Icteri ; 

 but the bill is depressed towards the extremity. There 

 are two European species, one of which, our common star- 

 ling (S. vulgaris), is well known in many parts of Britain, 

 and is remarkable for its gregarious habits, and singu- 

 lar aerial movements. Its glossy black and purple plu- 

 mage, starred with little spots of white, render it a very 

 ornamental bird ; and the great facility with which it may 

 be taught to speak makes it much sought after as a domes- 

 ticated species. S. unicolor inhabits Sardinia and the South 

 of Europe. 



Baron Cuvier concludes the conirostral tribe with three 

 well-marked groups, the crows, the rollers, and the birds • 

 of paradise. 



In the genus Corvus, Linn., the bill is strong, straight, 

 rather long, compressed towards the point, the nostrils 

 covered by stiff, reversed feathers. The plumage, though 

 generally dense and dark, is soft and lustrous, and the 

 species bear so great a resemblance to each other, that, as 

 Mr Macgillivray observes, the most unpractised observer 

 can scarcely fail to distinguish a crow. They also exhibit 

 corresponding instincts, being, if not shy, at least cunning 

 and watchful. They are omnivorous in the fullest sense 

 of the term, and will poke their beaks into every thing 



• Nuttall, vol. i. p. 178. 



