RED-EYED COWBIRD. 247 



resume his puffing and bowing. This habit of fluttering in the air was what first 

 attracted my attention to the species. In other respects their habits seem to be like 

 those of the eastern Cowbird. 



"My first egg of the Red-eyed Cowbird was taken on May 14, 1876, in a Cardinal's 

 nest. A few days before this a soldier brought me a similar egg, saying he found it in a 

 Scissors-tail's (Milvulus) nest. Not recognizing it at the time, I paid little attention to 

 him, and did not keep the egg. I soon found several others, and have taken in all twenty- 

 two specimens the past season. All but two of these were found in nests of the Bullock's, 

 Hooded, and Orchard Orioles. It is a curious fact that although Yellow-breasted Chats 

 and Red-winged Blackbirds breed abundantly in places most frequented by these Cow- 

 birds, I have but once found the latter's egg in a Chat's nest, and never in a Redwing's, 

 though I have looked in very many of them. Perhaps they feel that the line should be 

 drawn somewhere, and select their cousins, the Blackbirds, as coming within it. The 

 Dwarf Cowbirds are not troubled by this scruple, however. Several of these parasitic 

 eggs were found under interesting conditions. On six occasions I have found an egg of 

 both Cowbirds in the same nest. In four of these there were eggs of the rightful owner, 

 who was sitting. In the other two the Cowbird's eggs were alone in the nests, which 

 were deserted. But I have known the Hooded Oriole to set on an egg of the Red-eyed 

 Cowbird, which was on the point of hatching when found. How its own disappeared 

 I can not say. Once two eggs of this species were found in a nest of the Orchard Oriole. 

 Twice I have seen a broken egg of this Cowbird under nests of Bullock's Oriole on 

 which the owner was sitting. 



"Early in June a nest of the Hooded Oriole was found, with four eggs, and one of 

 the Red-eyed Cowbird, all of which I removed when leaving the nest. Happening to 

 pass by it a few days later, I looked in, and to my surprise found two eggs of this Cow- 

 bird, which were broken. These were so unlike that they were probably laid by different 

 birds. Still another egg, and the last, was laid in the same nest within ten days. But 

 the most remarkable instance was a nest of the Orchard Oriole, found June 20, contain- 

 ing three eggs of the Red-eyed Cowbird, while just beneath it was a whole egg of this 

 parasite; also a broken one of this and the Dwarf Cowbird. Two of the eggs in the nest 

 were rotten. The third, strange to say, contained a living embryo. As the nest was 

 certainly deserted, I can only account for this by supposing that the two rotten ones 

 were laid about the first week of June, when there was considerable rain, and that the 

 other w^as deposited soon after, since which time the w^eather had been clear and very 

 hot. On one occasion I found a female of the Red-eyed Cowbird hanging with a stout 

 thread around its neck to a nest of the Bullock's Oriole. The nest contained one young 

 of this Cowbird, and it is probable that its parent after depositing the egg was entangled 

 in the thread on hurriedly leaving the nest, and there died. It had apparently been dead 

 about two w^eeks. This case supports the view that the eggs or young of the owner are 

 thrown out by the young parasite and not removed by its parent, though I could find 

 no trace of them beneath the nest." 



Several other species of Cowbirds inhabit South America.* 



* For further information on this very interesting subject see Major Charles Bendire's excellent paper: "The Cow- 

 birds" in Report of the U. S. National Museum for 1893, pp, 587—624. 



