192 j COW BUNTING. 
unimportant omissions which have been anticipated in the preceding 
pages. 
“J regret exceedingly that’ professional avocations have put it out 
of my power to have replied earlier to your favor'of the 19th of Sep- 
tember; and although I shall not now reflect all the light you desire, 
a faithful transcript from memoranda, noted at the moment of observa- 
tion, may not be altogether uninteresting. : 
“The Fringilla pecoris is generally known in Maryland by the name 
of the Cow Blackbird ; and none but the naturalist view it as a distinct 
species. It appears about the last of March, or first week in April, 
though sometimes a little earlier, when the spring is unusually for- 
ward. It is less punctual in its appearance than many other of our 
migratory birds. e 
“Tt commomy remains with us till about the last of October, though 
unusually cold weather sometimes banishes it much earlier. It, how- 
ever, sometimes happens that a few of them remain with us all winter, 
and are seen hovering about our barns and farm-yards when straitened 
for sustenance by snow or hard frost. It is remarkable that in some 
years I have not been able to discover one of them during the ménths 
of July and August; when they have suddenly appeared in Septem- 
ber in great numbers. I have noticed this fact always immediately 
after a series of very hot weather, and then only. The general opin- 
ion is, that they then retire to the deep recesses of the shady forest ; 
but, if this had been the fact, I should probably have discovered them 
in my rambles in every part of the woods. I think it more likely that 
they migrate farther north, till they find a temperature more congenial . 
to their feelings, or find a richer repast in following the cattle in a 
better pasture.* 
“In autumn, we often find them congregated with the Marsh Black- 
birds, committing their common depredations upon the ears of the In- 
dian corn; and at other seasons, the similarity of their pursuits in 
feeding introduces them into the same company. I could never ob- 
serve that they would keep the company of any other bird. 
“ The Cow-Pen Finch differs, moreover, in another respect, from all 
the birds with which Iam acquainted. After an observance of many 
years, I could never discover any thing Jike pairing, or a mutual at- 
tachment between the sexes. Even in the season of love, when other 
birds are separated into pairs, and occupied in the endearing office of 
providing arcceptacle for their offspring, the Fringille are seen feed- 
ing in odd as well as even numbers, from one to twenty, and discov- 
ering no more disposition towards perpetuating their species than birds 
* “Jt may not be improper to remark here, that the appearance of this bird in 
spring is sometimes looked for with anxiety by the farmers. If the horned cattle 
happen to be diseased in spring, they ascribe it toworms, and consider the pursuit of 
the birds as an unerring indication of the necessity of medicine. Although this hy- 
pothesis of the worms infesting the cattle so as to produce much disease, is problem- 
atical, their superabundance at this season cannot be denied. The larvz of several 
species are deposited in the vegetables when green, and the cattle are fed on them 
as fodder in winter. This furnishés the principal inducement for the bird to follow 
the cattle in spring, when the aperient effects of the green grasses evacuate great 
numbers of worms. At this season the Pecoris often stuffs its crop with them till 
it can contain no more. There are several species, but the most numerous is a 
small white one similar to, if not the same as, ths Ascaris of the human species.” 
