COWBIRD, OR COW BLACKBIRD 



Male — Glossy black everywhere except head and neck 

 which are dark brown. Female — Brownish-gray. Length, 

 seven and one-half inches. The Cowbird never builds a nest but 

 lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. Eggs, white, >specked 

 with brown, .85 x .65 inches. The numtier of eggs is not 

 definitely known as they are left in several different nests. 



The Cowbird comes to the Northern and Middle States 

 from the Southern States and Mexico about the first of April. 

 Like many other birds, it migrates by night to avoid its 

 enemies. This bird has no friends among the bird family and, 

 therefore, it is compelled to seek companionship with its own 

 kind. Cowbirds live in flocks of small size, frequenting the 

 woods, the pastures and other open fields. They are often 

 seen following cattle about and picking up the worms and 

 insects disturbed by their feet. This habit has given these birds 

 their name. 



All birds in our country have great love for their young 

 except the Cowbirds. They never pair apd build nests like, 

 other birds, but deposit their eggs in the nests of smaller birds 

 which often do not discover the fraud practiced upon them. 

 No young Cowbird was ever raised by its own parents. The 

 eggs are hatched and the young reared by strangers. 



The female Cowbird leaves her roving companions just 

 long enough to search the woods for another bird's nest, 

 where, when she finds one, she deposits an tgg during the 

 absence of the owner and quickly returns again to her friends. 

 If the injured bird is large enough to remove the strange tgg 

 from among her own, she often throws it out of the nest and 



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