150 Birds Every Child Should Know 
plumage, the meadowlark, for example, is a 
brown bird with only a black crescent on its 
breast. Most of the males are dressed quite 
differently from their mates, although the female 
grackles are merely duller. Some of these birds 
sing exquisitely ; others wheeze or croak a few 
unmusical notes. Some live in huge flocks ; some 
live in couples. Some, like the bobolinks, 
travel to the tropics and beyond every winter ; 
others, like the meadowlark, can endure the 
intense cold of the North. Part of the family 
feed upon the ground, but the oriole branch 
live in the trees. Devotion to mates and chil- 
dren characterise most of the family, but we 
cannot overlook the cowbird that neither mates 
nor takes the slightest care of its offspring. 
The cowbird builds no nest, while its cousin, 
the Baltimore oriole, is a famous weaver. The 
bobolink is a rollicking, jolly fellow ; the grackle 
is solemn, even morose. What a queer family! 
