BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 
287 
GENUS MOLOTHRUS. 
General Characters. — Bill short, stout, conic, about two thirds as long as 
head, broad ridge running well up on forehead; wings moderate or long 
and pointed; tail shorter than wings, even, or a little rounded; feet strong; 
tarsus not shorter than middle toe with claw. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
1. Length (male) G.60-7.65 . ater, p. 287. 
1'. Length (male) 6.00-7.10. Texas and Arizona obscurus, p. 288. 
495. Molothrus ater ( Bodd .). Cowbird. 
Adult males. — Head, neck, and chest uniform brown; rest of plumage 
glossy black with green and purple reflections. 
Adult female: smaller than male, streaked 
brownish gray, darker above, lighter on throat. 
Young male: upper parts dull grayish brown 
or dark brown, feathers bordered with pale 
huffy or grayish brown and whitish; under parts broadly streaked with 
brownish, dull buffy, or whitish. Young female: like young male, but 
paler, under parts mainly dull buffy, streaked with grayish brown. Male: 
length (skins) 6.60-7.65, wing 4.15-4.56, tail 2.76-3.15, bill .6S-.77. Female: 
length (skins) 6.10-7.10, wing 3.68-4.12, tail 2.43-2.77, bill .60-.67. 
Distribution. — From southern British America south throughout the 
United States, breeding west to eastern Oregon; migrating to eastern 
Me xic o. Less common in the western part of its range. 
Fgg$. — Deposited, usually singly, in nests of other birds, 8 to 12, whit-^ 
ish, whole surface covered with brown specks and blotches, usually heaviest 
about the larger end. 
Food. — Mainly noxious weed seed and insects, with a small amount of 
grain. 
“ ‘ Buffalo bird’ used to be one of the names of the cowbird on the 
Plains, and Major Bendire says that in the prairie states now ‘ one 
will rarely see a bunch of cattle without an attendant flock of cow- 
birds, who perch on their backs, searching for parasites.’ This 
occupation is not interrupted by the ordinary cares of family life, 
for the cowbird builds no nest of its own, but foists its offspring 
upon its neighbors. 
“ Probably the historic cause for this remarkable habit would give 
us more charity for the bird, but it does such violence to the one 
redeeming instinct of the lowest types of man and beast, that it is 
hard not to regard the bird with unqualified aversion. Not only is 
it entirely lacking in the maternal but in the conjugal instincts, for 
it practices polyandry. On the other hand, the male cowbird is 
polygamous. . . .[ The only thing that can be said in favor of the 
female cowbird is that she takes pains to place her eggs where they 
are most likely to be hatched. Major Bendire gives a list of ninety- 
one birds in whose nests she has been known to leave her eggs; but 
though this includes woodpeckers, flycatchers, orioles, thrushes, 
Fig. 359. 
