started on their long journey to south America, their winter home. 
While in their summer home the food of the bobolinks consists almost en- 
tirely of insects, especially grasshoppers. 
C0WB1RD—(M olothrus ater.) 
Head, neck and breast coffee brown; rest of plumage glossy black, 
with metallic bluish and greenish reflections. 
Female, dark brownish gray, lighter below, especially on the throat. 
Length about seven and a half inches. 
Arrival. March i8 to April lo. 
Favorite Haunts. In the pastures around the cattle. 
Field Marks. A black bird with head, neck and breast coffee brown. 
Note. A whistle, and a few short rasping notes. Call note, "cluck- 
see." 
It has given me great pleasure to describe the habits of the different 
birds mentioned in this pamphlet. I have left the cowbird until the 
very last one because it is far from a pleasure to tell the truth about 
this bird. The cowbird does not build a home of its own. It lays its 
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