SPECIES 4. EMBERIZA PECORIS. 
COW BUNTING.* 
[Plate XVIII. — Figs. 1, 2, & 3.] 
Le Brunet, Bufi’. iv, 138 . — Le Pingon de Virginie, Briss. hi, 
165. — Cowpen-bird, Catesb. i, 34. — Lath, ii, 269. — Arct. Zool. 
II, p. 371, JS'o. 241 . — Sturnus stercorarius, Bartram, p. 291. — 
Peale’s Museum, JV*o. 6378, male — 6379,/emaig.t 
There is one striking peculiarity in the works of the great 
Creator, which becomes more amazing the more we reflect on it; 
namely, that he has formed no species of animals so minute, or 
obscure, that are not invested with certain powers and pecu- 
liarities, both of outward conformation and internal faculties, 
exactly suited to their pursuits, sufficient to distinguish them 
from all others; and forming for them a character solely and ex- 
clusively their own. This is particularly so among the feathered 
race. If there be any case where these characteristic features 
are not evident, it is owing to our want of observation; to our 
little intercourse with that particular tribe; or to that contempt 
for inferior animals and all their habitudes which is but too 
* The American Cuckoo (Cuculus Carolineusis) is by many people called 
tlie Cow-bird, from the sound of its notes resembling the words cow, cow. 
This bird builds its own nest very artlessly in a cedar or an apple tree, and 
lays four greerush blue eggs, wliich it hatches, and rears its young mth great 
tenderness. 
t Prince Musignano quotes the following Synonymes: — Fringilla pecoris, 
Gmei. Lath, female and young. — Ch-iolus fuscus, Gmei. adult male. — Orio- 
lus minor, Gmei. species, J^o. 46, Lath, adult male. — Sturnus obscurus, Gmel. 
adult male. — Sturnus junceti. Lath, adult male. — Troupiale de la Caroline, 
Buff. PI. Enl. 606, Jig. 1, adult male. This figure is, no doubt, intended for 
this bird, although the biU is incorrect. — B rissok calls it Fringilla Virgi- 
niana. Vieileot, Passerina pecoris. 
VOL. II. Z 
