THE COW-PEN-BIRD. 
17 
length bursting its fragile enclosure, comes tottering into existence. To 
sustain the life and contribute to the development of this helpless being, 
the mother issues in quest of food, which she carefully places in its open 
throat. Day after day it acquires new development under the fostering 
care of its nurse, until at length, invested with all the powers which Nature 
intended to bestow upon it, it spreads its pinions to the breeze, and sallies 
forth to perform the many offices for which it is destined. 
How often have I watched over the little bird in its nest, and marked 
the changes which day after day it exhibited : the unfolding of its first 
scanty covering of down, the sprouting of its plumelets, the general enlarge- 
ment of all its parts ! With what pleasure have I viewed the development 
of its colouring and the early manifestations of its future habits ! 
Amid these wonderful operations of Nature, there is one which has occa- 
sionally engaged my attention, and occupied my thoughts ever since I first 
became acquainted with the bird of which I now proceed to speak. 
The Cow-bird, which in form and character is allied to the Crow Black- 
bird, the Redwing, the Orchard Oriole, and other species, differs from these 
birds in one important circumstance, which approximates it to the Cuckoo 
of Europe, a bird entirely different in habits and appearance. Like that 
bird, it makes no nest of its own, but deposits its eggs, one at a time, in 
the nests of other birds, leaving them to the care of a foster-parent. 
In the State of Louisiana, the Cow-pen-bird, or, as it is also called, the 
Cow Blackbird, or Cow Bunting, is seen only at long intervals. Some years 
pass without the appearance of a single individual there. At other times 
immense flocks are observed mixing with the Redwings, Crow Blackbirds, 
and Robins, searching about the farm-yards, the fields and the meadows with 
great diligence for food. At such times they are easily approached, and are 
shot in great numbers, being considered more delicate and better flavoured 
than the species with which they associate, excepting the Robin. Like the 
Redwings, they seek the swamps and the margins of lakes and rivers, where 
they roost among the tall sedges, flags, and other aquatic plants. When dis- 
turbed in these retreats, they rise in a dense mass, perform various evolutions 
in the air, and alight again to resume their repose. At daybreak, they return 
to the cultivated parts of the country to search for food. In Georgia aud 
South Carolina, they occur in great abundance every winter. Some also 
spend the winter in Virginia and Maryland, as well as in the States of 
Kentucky and Indiana, where I have observed them lingering about farm- 
houses and cow-pens during severe weather. Great flocks, however, retire 
much farther south. I have seen many of these birds passing high in the 
air, at mid-day, in the month of October, pursuing their course steadily, as 
if bent upon a long journey. 
Vol. IV. 
3 
