Q 
some more than once, whose 
evidence amounted to 8,5^1 
pages of transcript. 
Upon completion of his 
civic duty, he left with 
Malcolm Watkins for Marlborough 
Town, Va., at the junction of 
Potomac Creek and Potomac River, 
where they, together with Prof. 
Oscar Darter of Mary Washington 
College, will conduct excava- 
tions to determine, if possible, 
the size, number, and type of 
colonial structures that may 
have existed there near the end 
of the 17th century. This field 
work has been made possible 
through a grant from the Ameri- 
can Philosophical Society. 
NEW RESIDENCE FOR COW BIRD 
An Old World bird that is 
a constant companion of cows 
has became extablished in the 
United States in the past 15 
years. Unknown in this country 
before its first appearance in 
Florida in 19^2, it now numbers 
approximately 2,000 in that 
State, according to a recently 
published Smithsonian report 
b\ Alexander Sprunt, Jr. , of 
the National Audubon Society. 
This bird is Bubulcus ibis , 
the cattle egret, well known 
for many years in southern 
Europe, Africa, and the Middle 
East. It is a small, white 
egret with dark-brown feet and 
yellow legs and bill. The crea- 
ture is most remarkable for its 
strange, constant association 
with cattle. Says Mr. Sprunt: 
"The close proximity to 
cattle is little short of aston- 
ishing. It is a positive wonder 
that it is not stepped onl It 
keeps pace with the animal con- 
tinually, usually close by the 
head but sometimes near the fore 
or hind feet and occasionally 
under the belly. When an insect 
is disturbed, the bird darts out, 
catches it, and returns. Now and 
then, it reaches up and picks off 
something from the body of the 
cow, or its legs. Whether these 
tidbits are flies, ticks, or what, 
I do not know, but it is a fre- 
quent practice. At times, the cow 
may be seen to push the bird aside 
with its muzzle, but appears not 
to object otherwise to the immediate 
closeness of its satellite. 
"A very peculiar and, as far as 
I know, unexplained characteristic 
of the bird is the habit of weaving 
the head and neck from side to 
side .... A bird will suddenly 
stop feeding, stand perfectly up- 
right, and weave the upper part 
of the body in a sort of hula-like 
motion." 
It feeds chiefly on grasshop- 
pers and crickets. This may explain 
its fondness for cattle, which 
disturb these insects in the grass 
while grazing. 
How the cattle egret got to 
the New World, especially the United 
States, is hard to explain. It 
first was observed in British 
Guiana in 1937, but did not appear 
in this country until 5 years later. 
The cattle egret population is 
concentrated in Florida but stray 
specimens have been observed as far 
north as Maine and even Newfoundland 
and inland to Chicago. 
In the Old World it is known as 
a great wanderer. Mr. Sprunt be- 
lieves that a few pairs may have 
been blown over the Atlantic by wind 
currents. 
