206 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



with other species of blackbirds. It feeds mainly in pastures; 

 often associating with a herd of cattle and sometimes alight- 

 ing on the backs of the animals to search for insects. The 

 flight of the cowbird is undulatory and a flock may often be 

 identified at some distance by their rising and falling motions. 



This is the one parasite among North American birds; it 

 never constructs a nest, but deposits its eggs in the nests of 

 other smaller birds and trusts the foster parents to care for 

 the eggs and young. The usual result is that the cowbird's 

 eggs hatch first and the young, by reason of greater size and 

 vigor, crowd out the young of the bird thus imposed upon. 

 Not infrequently, also, the cowbird throws out some of the 

 eggs of the rightful owner of the nest to make room for her 

 own. Often several cowbird's eggs are found in one nest, 

 even to the number of 7, which Bendire records as having been 

 found in an ovenbird's nest. Besides the latter species, the 

 birds most often imposed upon are (according to Bendire) the 

 phoebe, song sparrow, towhee, indigo bunting, and yellow- 

 breasted chat; while upwards of 85 species are in the list of 

 birds parasitized by the cowbird. 



Food habits. — Prof. Beal, after examining 544 stomachs of 

 this bird, summarized its food habits as follows : 



(1) Twenty per cent of the cowbird's food consists of insects, 

 which are either harmful or annoying. (2) Sixteen per cent is 

 grain, the consumption of which may be considered a loss, 

 though it is practically certain that half of this is waste. (3) 

 More than 50 per cent consists of the seeds of noxious weeds, 

 whose destruction is a positive benefit to the farmer. (4) 

 Fruit is practically not eaten.f 



RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD: Agelaius phoeniceus preda- 

 torius (Wilson) .J 



State records. — The red-wing, or marsh blackbird, is locally 

 common throughout the State. This northern race occupies 

 during the breeding season the northern part of the State from 

 Autauga County northward (fig. 11). In winter its num- 

 bers are greatly augmented by migrants from the North. 



tBeal, F. E. L., Biol. Surv. Bull. 18, p. 29, 1900. 



iAgelains phoenlceaa phoeniceiu of the A. O. U. Check-lbt; for change of name see 

 The Auk, vol. 34, p. 204, 1917. 



