360 
BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 
land, and are given to following cattle, clustering about the feet of the 
herd, presumably to feed on the insects found there. They build no 
nest, and the females, lacking every moral and maternal instinct, 
leave their companions only long 
enough to deposit their eggs in the 
nests of other and smaller birds. I 
can imagine no sight more strongly 
suggestive of a thoroughly despicable 
nature than a female Cowbird sneak- 
ing through the trees or bushes in 
search of a victim upon whom to 
shift the duties of motherhood. 
The ill-gotten offspring are born 
with the Cowbird character fully 
developed. They demand by far the greater share of the food, and 
through gluttony or mere size alone starve or crowd out the rightful 
occupants of the nest. They accept the attention of their foster-par- 
ents long after they could care for themselves; and when nothing more 
is to be gained desert them and join the growing flocks of their kind 
in the grainfields. 
497. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus ( Bonap .). Yellow-headed 
Blackbird. Ad. d. — Head, neck, throat, and breast orange-yellow; region 
before the eye and chin black; outer wing-coverts white, rest of the plumage 
black. Ad. 9 . —Forehead, line over the eye, sides of the head, throat, and 
upper breast pale, dirty yellow, more or less mixed with white; lower breast 
generally more or less marked with white; rest of the plumage grayish 
brown. L., 10*00; W„ 5*50; T., 4’05; B., *85. 
Range. — W. N. Am. Breeds from s. B. C., s. Mackenzie, sw. Keewatin, 
and n. Minn. s. to sc Calif., Ariz., and Mex., and e. to s. Wise., cen. Iowa, 
n. Ills., and Ind.; winters from sw. Calif., s. Ariz., and sw. La. s. to Mex.; 
accidental in Greenland and in various e. localities from Ont. and Que. to 
S. C., Fla., and Cuba. 
Washington, A. V., one instance, Aug. Cambridge, A. V., one record, 
Oct. Glen Ellyn, A. V., May 21, 1898. SE. Minn., common S. R., Apl. 21. 
Nest , bulky, of coarse reeds, grasses, etc., in marshes. Eggs , 4-5, grayish 
white, evenly and rather obscurely speckled with pale cinnamon-brown, 
1*00 x *72. Date , se. Minn., May 18 (first egg). 
When nesting, the Yellow-head is one of the characters of the quill- 
reed or tule marshes. Later, he joins others of his kind, forming vast 
flocks which frequent corn and grain fields or wherever food can be 
found. 
“If result were commensurate with effort, the Yellow-head would be 
a world-famed songster; but something besides unbounded ambition 
and limitless muscular exertion is required to produce music. In vain 
the Yellow-head expands his lungs and throws out his chest, his wide- 
spread tail testifying to the earnestness of his endeavor; sound he pro- 
duces in volume, but surely such a series of strained, harsh calls, whist- 
ties like escaping steam, grunts, groans and pig-like squeals never before 
did duty as a song. In his youth he does far better, the note of the young 
Fig. 99. Cowbird. (Natural size.) 
