parents' own eggs. In the nest of a Yellow-breasted Chat in south-western Missouri 

 three Cowbird's eggs were found together with two of the rightful owner; one dis- 

 appeared before hatching and so did the owner's eggs, while two Cowbird's eggs were 

 hatched. At the age of three days one of the young parasites disappeared and only one 

 left the nest of its foster parents. 



It is not unusual to find one or more of the eggs of the rightful owner thrown 

 out of the nest, and it is supposed that the female Cowbird is responsible for it. This 

 is doubtlessly done to enhance the chances of her own offspring. In other cases there 

 are minute punctures in the shells of the remaining eggs, and this is probably done on 

 purpose by the Cowbird, either with the beak or with the claws, to keep them from 

 hatching. 



The eggs of the Cowbird show a great variation in color as well as in size. They 

 show a pearly-white, often a pure white, a grayish-white or pale bluish ground-color, 

 and are more or less densely spotted with chocolate-brown, lavender and cinnamon- 

 brown spots. 



On page 271, Volume I, of this work I have quoted Mr. John Burroughs' opinion 

 of the Cowbird and the way in which he rids the nests of our small birds of the 

 young parasite. For many years I have followed his example, and I destroy every 

 parasitic egg and every young Cowbird wherever found. 



As soon as the young Cowbirds are able to shift for themselves they leave their 

 foster parents, seeking instinctively the society of their own species. Young and old 

 assemble into flocks, and these flocks again join others until large swarms are formed. 

 With other Blackbirds, notably Redwings and Yellowheads, they frequent marshes where 

 they find abundance of food in the seeds of wild rice and reeds. By the middle or the 

 latter part of October they begin to migrate southward. 



In south-eastern Texas, from Houston southward, I met also the Dwarf Cow- 

 bird, Molotbrus ater obscurus Coues, but it was not common. On the Rio Grande and 

 the adjacent Mexican territory, and thence westward to Arizona and Lower California, 

 it replaces the typical species. It resembles the common Cowbird closely, being only a 

 little smaller. 



NAMES: Cowbird, Cow Bunting, Cow Blackbird, Cow-pen Bunting, Sheep-bird, Lazy Bird, Clodhopper, 

 Shiny-eye, Buffalo Bird, "Parasite." 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Oriolus ater Boddaert (1783). MOLOTHRUS ATER Gray (1870). FringiUa 

 pecoris Gmel. (1788). Emberiza pecoris Wilson (1810). Icterus pecoris Bonap. (1824). Molotbrus 

 pecoris Swains. (1831). 



DESCRIPTION: "Male: Black, lustrous, with purplish-brown head and neck. Female: Smaller, dark uniform 

 grayish-brown, paler below, with dark shaft-lines on most of the feathers. Bill and feet, black in 

 both sexes. Young male at first like female, but the underparts decidedly streaked." S. & C, "New 

 England Bird-life." Vol. I, p. 295. 



Length, 7.00 to 8.00 inches; wing, 3.87; tail, 2.87 inches. 



