COW BUNTING. 19] 
\ 
rear their own young, like every other species around them. On the 
other hand, when I consider that many of them tarry here so late as 
the middle of June, dropping their eggs, from time to time, into every 
convenient receptacle —that in the states of Virginia, Maryland, Del- 
aware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, they uniformly retain the same 
habits — and, in short, that in all these places I have never yet seen 
or heard of their nest,—reasoning from these facts, I think I may 
safely conclude that they never build one; and that in those remote 
northern regions their manners are the same as we find them here. 
What reason Nature may have for this extraordinary deviation 
from her general practice is, I confess, altogether beyond my compre- 
hension. There is nothing singular to be observed in the anatomicul 
structure of the bird that would seem to prevent or render it incapa- 
ble of incubation. The extreme heat of our climate is probably one 
reason why, in the months of July and August, they are rarely to be 
seen here. Yet we have many other migratory birds that regularly 
pass through Pennsylvania to the north, leaving a few residents be- 
hind them, who, without exception, build their own nests and rear 
their own young. This part of the country also abounds with suita- 
ble food, such as they usually subsist on. Many conjectures indeed 
might be formed as to the probable cause ; but all of them that have 
occurred to me are unsatisfactory and inconsistent. Future and more 
numerous observations, made with, care, particularly in those coun- 
tries where they most usually pass the summer, may throw more light 
on this matter ; till then, we can only rest satisfied with the reality of 
the fact. 
This species winters regularly in the lower parts of North and 
South Carolina and Georgia; I have also met with them-near Wil- 
liamsburg, and in several other parts of Virginia. In January, 1809, 
I observed strings of them for sale in the market of Charleston, South 
Carolina. They often frequent corn and rice fields, in company with 
their cousins, as Mr. Bartram calls them, the Red-winged Blackbirds ; 
but are more commonly found accompanying the cattle, feeding on 
the seeds, worms, &c., which they pick up amongst the fodder, and 
from the excrements of the cattle, which they scratch up for this pur- 
pose. Hence they have pretty generally obtained the name of Cow- 
Pen Birds, Cow Birds, or Cow Blackbirds. By the naturalists of Eu- 
rope they have hitherto been classed with the Finches, though im- 
properly, as they have no family resemblance to that tribe, sufficient 
to justify that arrangement. If we are to be directed by the conforma- 
tion of their bill, nostrils, tongue, and claws, we cannot hesitate a 
moment in classing them with the Red-winged Blackbirds, Oriolus 
pheniceus ; not, however, as Orioles, but as Buntings, or some new 
intermediate genus; the notes or dialect of the Cow Bunting and 
those of the Redwings, as well as »ome other peculiarities of voice 
and gesticulation, being strikingly similar. 
Respecting this extraordinary bird, I have received communications 
from various quarters, all corroborative of the foregoing particulars. 
Among these is a letter from Dr. Potter, of Baltimore, which, as it 
contains some new and interesting facts, and several amusing inci- 
dents, illustrative of the character of the bird, I shall with pleasure 
lay before the reader, apologizing to the obliging writer fora few 
