524 
IT. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS-ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
MOLOTHRUS PECORIS, Swainson. 
Cow Black bird; Cow bird. 
Fringilla pecoris, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 910, (female).— Lath. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 443-■— Licht. Verzeich. 1823, 
Nos. 230, 231. 
Embeiiza pecoris, Wils. Am. Orn. II, 1810, 145; pi. xviii; f. 1, 2, 3. 
Icterus pecoris, Bonap. Obs. Wilson, 1824, No. 88.— Add. Orn. Biog. 1,1831, 493 : V, 1839, 233, 490; pi. 99 and 424. 
Icterus (Emberizoides) pecoris, Bon. Syn. 1828, 53 .—Ib. Specchio comp. No. 41.— Nutt. Man. I, 1832, 178; 2d ed. 
190. 
Passerinu pecoris, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. XXV, 1819, 22. 
Psarocolius pecoris, Wagi.er, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 20. 
JMolothrus pecoris, Swainson, F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 277.— Rich. List, 1837. —Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Consp. 1850, 
436 —Aud. Syn. 1839,139. — Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 16; pi. 212. — Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 
193. 
? Oriolusfuscus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 393. 
1 Sturnus obscurus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 804. Evidently a Molothrus, and probably, but not certainly, the 
present species. 
“Icterus emberizoides, Daudin.” 
? Sturnus junceti, Lath. Ind. I, 1790, 326, (same as Sturnus obscurus, Gm.) 
? Fringilla ambigua, Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 484, (young). 
Sp. Ch. —Second quill longest; first scarcely shorter. Tail nearly even, or very slightly rounded. Male with the head, 
neck, and anterior half of the breast, light chocolate brown, rather lighter above; rest of body lustrous black, with a violet 
purple gloss next to the brown, of steel blue on the back, and of green elsewhere. Female light olivaceous brown all over, 
lighter on the head and beneath. Bill and feet black. Length 8 inches; wing, 4.42; tail, 3.40. 
Hah .— United States from the Atlantic to California; not found immediately on the coast of the Pacific? 
The young bird of the year is brown above, brownish white beneath; the throat immaculate. 
A maxillary stripe and obscure streaks thickly crowded across the whole breast and sides. 
There is a faint indication of a paler superciliary stripe. The feathers of the upper parts are 
all margined with paler. There are also indications of the light hands on the wings. These 
markings are all obscure, but perfectly appreciable, and their existence in adult birds may be 
considered as embryonic, and showing an inferiority in degree to the species with the under 
parts perfectly plain. 
The Fringilla pecoris of Gmelin, from which the specific name of the bird is usually derived^ 
is based essentially on the Fringilla virginiana of Brisson. The description is “brown, beneath 
paler, tail sub-bifurcated.” This is scarcely a satisfactory diagnosis, although the descriptions 
of Pennant and Latham, likewise quoted by Gmelin, are very accurate. The Sturnus obscurus 
of Gmelin is evidently a Molothrus , hut described from Mexico, and may possibly not be the 
present species, although the chances are in its favor. The Oriolus fuscus of Gmelin is probably 
the present bird, hut may he a Scolecophagus. Under the circumstances, therefore, it may he as 
well to retain the name of pecoris, about which, from the context there can be no doubt, in pre¬ 
ference to using any of the really prior names of fuscus or obscurus. 
