299 THE COW BLACKBIRD. 
vicinity of herds of cattle. Later in the fall they some- 
times associate with the Red-wings, which have now also 
gathered into flocks. About the middle of October they 
leave us for the South. 
Like the European Cuckoo, the Cow Blackbird lays its 
eggs in the nests of other birds, never building one for 
itself. It usually selects the nest of a bird smaller than 
itself, and never forcibly drives away the rightful owners in 
order to take possession itself, but waits until they are 
absent, and then secretly and quickly deposits the egg. 
Among the birds who are thus victimized are the Red-eyed 
and White-eyed Vireos, the Maryland Yellow-throat, the 
Bluebird, Indigo-bird, Chipping and Song Sparrows, Yellow 
Warbler, Golden-erowned, Wilson's, and Wood Thrushes, 
Blue-gray Flycatcher, Yellowbird, Towhee Bunting, Black 
and White Creeper, Purple Finch and Bay-winged Bunting. 
The favorites are the Maryland Yellow-throat, the summer 
Yellowbird, and the Vireos. 
The egg of the Cow Blackbird is of a dirty white, thickly 
sprinkled - with spots and dashes of reddish brown. Some 
of these spots are darker than others, and different eggs 
often show some slight variations in color, as is generally 
the case, indeed, with all streaked and spotted eggs. 
One egg is the most ordinary number in the same nest, 
but occasionally there are two, one of which, Audubon ob- 
serves, usually proves addled. I never heard of more than 
two instances where there were more than two eggs of the 
Cow-bird in a single nest. Prof. Baird and Dr. Brewer 
. once found three eggs in a nest of the Black and White 
- Creeper, and I once haa the good fortune to discover nest 
of the same bird containing five eggs of the parasite, t0- 
gether with three of her own. In the latter case, incubation 
. had begun, and all of the eggs contained embryos | 
~ The young Cow Bunting usually breaks the aholi k short 
time. before the other occupants of the nest, who, from this 
| ce, , and the fact that they are smaller and weaker : 







