C Of B U N T I N G. 
83 
This Cow-bird is now six months old, is in complete plumage; and re- 
pays the affectionate services of his foster parent with a frequent display 
of all the musical talents with which nature has gifted him. These, it 
must be confessed, are far from being ravishing ; yet for their singularity 
are worthy of notice. He spreads his wings, swells his body into a 
globular form, bristling every feather in the manner of a turkey cock, 
and with great seeming difficulty utters a few low, spluttering notes, 
as if proceeding from his belly ; always, on these occasions, strutting in 
front of the spectator with great consequential affectation. 
To see the Red-bird, who is himself so excellent a performer, silently 
listening to all this guttural splutter, reminds me of the great Handel 
contemplating a wretched cat-gut scraper. Perhaps, however, these 
may be meant for the notes of love and gratitude, which are sweeter to 
the ear, and dearer to the heart, than all the artificial solos or concertos 
on this side heaven. 
The length of this species is seven inches, breadth eleven inches ; the 
head and neck is of a very deep silky drab ; the upper part of the 
breast a dark changeable violet ; the rest of the bird is black, with a 
considerable gloss of green when exposed to a good light ; the form of 
the bill is faithfully represented in the plate ; it is evidently that of an 
Emberiza ; the tail is slightly forked ; legs and claws glossy black, 
strong and muscular ; iris of the eye dark hazel. Catesby says of this 
bird, " it is all over of a brown color, and something lighter below ; " 
a description that applies only to the female, and has been repeated in 
nearly the same words, by almost all succeeding ornithologists. The 
young male birds are at first altogether brown, and for a month, or more, 
are naked of feathers round the eye and mouth ; the breast is also 
spotted like that of a Thrush, with light drab and darker streaks. In 
about two months after they leave the nest, the black commences at the 
shoulders of the wings, and gradually increases along each side, as the 
young feathers come out, until the bird appears mottled on the back 
and breast with deep black and light drab. At three months the colors 
of the plumage are complete, and, except in moulting, are subject to no 
periodical change. 
