292 
COW BUNTING 
all of them that have occurred to me are unsatisfactory and 
inconsistent. Future and more numerous observations, made 
with care, particularly in those countries where they most 
usually pass the summer, may throw more light on this 
matter ; till then, we can only rest satisfied with the reality 
of the fact. 
This species winters regularly in the lower parts of North 
and South Carolina and Georgia ; I have also met with them 
near Williamsburg, and in several other parts of Virginia. 
In January, 1809, I observed strings of them for sale in the 
market of Charleston, South Carolina. They often frequent 
corn and rice fields, in company with their cousins, as Mr 
Bartram calls them, the Red-winged Blackbirds ; but are 
more commonly found accompanying the cattle, feeding on 
the seeds, worms, &c. which they pick up amongst the fodder 
and from the excrements of the cattle, which they scratch up 
for this purpose. Hence they have pretty generally obtained 
the name of Cow-pen Birds , Cow Birds , or Cow Blackbirds . 
By the naturalists of Europe they have hitherto been classed 
with the Finches ; though improperly, as they have no family 
resemblance to that tribe, sufficient to justify that arrangement. 
If we are to be directed by the conformation of their bill, 
nostrils, tongue, and claws, we cannot hesitate a moment in 
classing them with the Red-winged Blackbirds, Oriolus 
phceniceus ; not, however, as Orioles, but as Buntings, or 
some new intermediate genus ; the notes or dialect of the Cow 
Bunting and those of the Redwings, as well as some other 
peculiarities of voice and gesticulation, being strikingly similar. 
Respecting this extraordinary bird, I have received com- 
munications from various quarters, all corroborative of the 
foregoing particulars. Among these is a letter from Dr Potter j 
of Baltimore, which, as it contains some new and interesting 
facts, and several amusing incidents, illustrative of the cha- 
racter of the bird, I shall with pleasure lay before the reader, 
apologizing to the obliging writer for a few unimportant 
omissions which have been anticipated in the preceding pages. 
