i6 



THE COWBIRD. 



Much was formerly made, especially in New England, of the mysterious 

 disapi3earance of the Cowbirds during the months of July and August. At 

 this season they gather in large flocks, but are not much noticed because of their 

 almost unbroken silence. Late in summer they are moulting and keep pretty 

 closely to out-of-the-way woods during this trying time. In northern Ohio I 

 have repeatedly watched companies of from five hundred to two thousand 

 during August, as they passed silently about the tree-tops, or as they settled to 

 their accustomed roosts in a grove. On the other hand I once spent ten days 

 at the same season, along the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, without seeing a 

 single Cowbird. Yet I have no reason to doubt that there were as many birds 

 in the latter region as in the former. 



Specimens shot in August contained, besides small quantities of wheat 

 gleaned from the ground, large numbers of grasshoppers. If one were ever 

 disposed to be lenient toward this repulsive bird, it might well be during the 

 grasshopper season. 



Talic}i iicnr AsinaonU 



THi; BIRDS' MIRROR. 



Photo by P. I). SiiyJ.-r. 



