OF VIRGINIA 199 
larger share of food brought to the uest by the parent 
birds, they soon crowd and starve out the rightful young 
of the nest. One ege is the average number found in the 
nest of the foster parents, though two or more is not un- 
common ; generally the eggs, judging from size, shape, and 
markings, being from different birds. The greatest impo- 
sition on a good-natured bird that I ever found, was that 
of the Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora pinus), having 
four eges of the Cowbird in its nest and two eggs of the 
warbler. .As they were almost uniform as to size, shape, 
and color, I judged the eggs to be all from one bird. The 
eges are a gravish-white, thickly spotted and specked 
with light brown. Size, .85x.64. Fresh eges from May 
15th to June 3rd. Their food consists of various kinds 
of grain, weed seeds, grasshoppers, beetles, flies, bugs, and 
ticks. One sees them in the pasture following the cattle, 
or often on their backs, searching for ticks, and seeds in 
their droppings; this close relation between beast and 
bird probably is responsible for their vernacular name of 
Cowbird. In the winter they congregate in large flocks, 
while many may be found in flocks of the Red-winged 
Blackbird. This is the only polygamous species we have, 
though observations made on my own farm lead me to 
believe that some birds remain paired during the laying 
season at least. Were it not for the fact they are the means 
of the destruction of so many small and useful birds, I 
would class them as beneficial. Following is a list of 
species imposed upon by the Cowbird in this section: 
Scientific Name Vernacular Name 
Dendroica eestiva estiva.............. Yellow Warbler. 
Guiraca cerula eerula............00004 Blue Grosbeak. 
Vireo griseus griseus. .............. White-eyed Vireo. 
Vireo sylva olivacea.............0.... Red-eved Vireo. 
