, 
» eS 
its nest with horsehair gathered from 
the roads and pastures. 
I must not forget to mention as com- 
mon spring birds the Blackbirds. They 
come early and assemble in flocks on the 
bare branches of the trees. The concert 
they give us can hardly be called sweet, 
but yet their mingled notes are pleasant, 
coming as they do before most of our 
sweet-voiced choristers make their de- 
but. The blackbirds seen here are the 
Cow, the Crow, the Red-winged, and the 
Rusty Blackbirds. 
The Cow bird is not handsome, nor are 
its notes pleasing. You will often see a 
small flock feeding among the cows in the 
pasture, and sometimes one or more upon 
the back of acow. He must be considered 
a type of some of our so-called statesmen, 
who look to it that the members of their 
family are fed at the public crib, for the 
Cow bird, like the European Cuckoo, 
lays its eggs in the nest of other birds, 
and its progeny are supported at the ex- 
