BL.\("I\'BIRI)S, ORIOLES, ETC. 263

am, none. the eggs being laid in the nests of other species. Izyys, white, evenly and distinctly speckled with cinnaiuon—brown or umber, '56 x '65.

The (,‘owbird is an acknowledged villain, and has no standing in the bird world. English Sparrows, either because they are not aware of the customs of New-World bird lite, or be 'ause of a possible and not unlikely atl'mit_'. associate with him; but no self-respecting Ameri- can bird will be found in his company.

As an out -ast he makes the best of things. and gathers about him a band of kindred spirits who know no law. There is an air about the group which at. once tells the criti‘al observer that; their deeds are evil. No joyous song swells the throat of the male. llis chief con- tribution to the chorus of springtime is a guttural bubbling produced with apparently nauseous effort. In small flocks they visit both pasture and woodland, 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 sneaking 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 (vabird 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 tloeks of their kind in the graintields.

497. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus t Ilium/2.). Yumm— ummzn BLAt'Ktzlltlt. .tii. g .——llc:|d. neck. throat. and breast orange-yellow; region before the e_\'c and chin black; outer wing—coverts white, rest of the plumage black. ml. 9 .vl‘pl'cllcml. line ovcrthe eyesidcs ot'tlie head. throat, and upper breast pale, dirty yellow, more or less mixed with white: low'cr breast generally more or less marked with white: rest of the plumage grayish brown. 14., 10'th \\'.. :‘rfio; T.. 4'07); B“ h?)

li’nzig/(’.~m\\'cstern North Aim-rim. north to Manitoba. cast to Illinois; win— ters from the Southern States southward: accidental in Massachusetts, Dis— trict ot' (‘olumth South t‘arolina. and Florida.

Washington. .\. \'.. one instance. Aug. t'anibridge. A. V., one record.()et.

MM, bulky, of coarse recds. grasses. etc., in marshes. hilt/N. four to five, grayish white. m‘enly and rather obseurel)’ spt-eklcd with pale cinnanion~ brown. 1'0” x '71

“ These birds are largely terrestrial in their habits, and during,r the fall and winter months are generally distributed over the prairies and