The Cowbirds 



pickers tricked out in cast-off finery. The flocks increase in size as the 

 season advances, and may reach into the thousands in regions where 

 the species is abundant. The birds mingle more or less freely with 

 Redwings, and occasionally with Brewer Blackbirds. 



In feeding upon the ground about corrals the Cowbirds are quickly 

 actuated by the flock impulse, rising as one bird at a fancied alarm. 

 After alighting upon a fence or upon the unprotesting backs of cattle, 

 they hop down again one by one as confidence becomes established. 

 They greet each other always with quivering bodies and uptilted tails, 

 and that upon the most trivial occasions. Inasmuch as this is the accept- 

 ted "sex call," reserved for rare occasions by all proper birds, one cannot 

 escape the conviction that these Cowbirds are lewd fellows, habituated 

 to the very attitudes of vice. 



In winter there is a general retirement into Mexico, although a few 

 of the dwarf variety linger through the season upon the Colorado Desert 

 and along the Colorado River. In February or March, according to 

 altitude, there is a return movement of Cowbirds, oftenest in company 

 with other blackbirds. But if the main flock halts for refreshments and 

 discussion en route, a group of these rowdies will hunt up some disreputable 

 female of their own kind, and make tipsy and insulting advances to her 

 along some horizontal limb or fence rail. Taking a position about a 

 foot away from the coy drab, the male will make two or three accelerating 

 hops toward her, then stop suddenly, allowing the impulse of motion to 

 tilt him violently forward and throw his tail up perpendicularly, while 

 at the same moment he spews out the disgusting notes which voice his 

 passion. As the mating season advances the male birds become very 

 active, whether in the untiring pursuit of frailty or in a sympathetic 

 search for prospective foundling homes which they may recommend to 

 their paramours. At such times they move about singly, or by twos or 

 threes, and post prominently in treetops. Any unusual noise, especially a 

 slight one, attracts their attention ; and if a human has business in the 

 woodland his movements are sure to be spied upon from time to time 

 by alert Cowbirds. Often the detective announces his discovery by a 

 gurgling squeaky song, and he is quite sure to utter this once or twice just 

 before quitting his observation post. 



Of the mating, Chapman says: "They build no nest, and the 

 females, lacking every moral instinct, leave their companions only long 

 enough to deposit their eggs in the nests of other and smaller birds. I 

 can imagine no sight more strongly suggestive of a thoroughly despicable 

 nature than a female Cowbird sneaking through the trees and bushes in 

 search of a victim upon whom to shift the duties of motherhood." 



The egg, thus surreptitiously placed in another bird's nest, hatches 



7c? 



