"BUFFALO-BIRD" was formerly one of the names applied to this bird of strange habits, and Major Bendire, who was long an observer of all that took place on the plains, states that one will rarely see a bunch of cattle without an attending flock of cowbirds, who perch on their backs searching for parasites, or sit with "lazy ease," their familiarity with the cattle suggesting their name of cowbird. They also follow the freshly plowed furrows and pick up worms and larvÆ. Mr. P. M. Silloway, who has made a very extended and careful study of the cowbird, says that its strange behavior and stealthy movements at certain seasons have prevented the acquisition of full data concerning many features of its life, and a few unfounded speculations about its habits have become current. It occupies a parallel place with the European cuckoo. It never builds a nest, but deposits its eggs in the homes of other birds, usually those of the smaller species. It is, therefore, a homeless creature, and its young are all orphans or adopted children. "It is, indeed, a peculiar bird, having no attractiveness of color, no beauty of voice, and no home. No wonder that, when in the haunts of other species, it hides and skulks as it seeks a suitable and convenient habitation to house its unborn orphan." Major Bendire gives a list of ninety-one birds in whose nests she has been known to leave her eggs. This includes woodpeckers, flycatchers, orioles, thrushes, sparrows, vireos, wrens, and warblers, but the most frequently imposed upon are so small that the cowbird's big nestling is almost certain to be the one to survive, the smaller birds being crowded out, and left to perish. It is said that as many as seven cowbird eggs have been found in a single nest, but there is generally only one. It is believed that a brood of insectivorous and useful birds is almost invariably sacrificed for every cowbird raised. Mr. Ridgway, in his fascinating book on the birds of Illinois, gives the following vivid picture of the female searching for a nest in which to deposit her egg: "She hunts stealthily through the woods, usually among the undergrowth, and when a nest is discovered, patiently awaits from a convenient hiding-place the temporary absence of the parent, when the nest is stealthily and hastily inspected, and if found suitable, she takes possession and deposits her egg, when she departs as quietly as she came." "In the village of Farmington, Conn.," says Florence A. Merriam, "we once saw a song sparrow on a lawn feeding a cowbird bigger than she. When she handed it a worm, one of my field class exclaimed in astonishment, 'I thought the big bird was the mother!'"

Some of the foster parents abandon their nests, or build a second nest over the eggs, but usually the little bird works faithfully to bring up the foundling. Sometimes the egg is recognized by the mother and quickly thrown out. Frequently, also, the cowbird will eject one or more eggs of the owner to make room for her egg, or to deceive the owner and leave the same number of eggs as were in the nest before her visit. Sometimes an egg of the owner is found on the ground near a nest containing an egg of the cowbird, and it is no unusual occurrence to find an egg of the cowbird lying near a nest of a species regularly imposed upon by the parasite. Silloway says that the wood thrush, towhee, field and chipping sparrows, yellow-breasted chat, and the Maryland yellow-throat are oftenest selected to bear the burden of rearing the young of the cowbird.

In their courtship the males are very gallant. They arrive from the south several days in advance of the females. At this season—about the middle of March—they generally associate in groups of six or eight, and the males are easily distinguished by the gloss of their black plumage in contrast to the dull brown of the female. They do not pair, the females meeting the advances of the males indiscriminately. Dr. Gibbs, however, thinks that the birds may pair frequently for the summer, and suggests this as reasonable, referring to an incident coming under his notice when he saw a blue jay, on the point of despoiling the nest of a vireo, driven away by a pair of cowbirds in a most valiant manner. In going to the nest he found a large over-grown cowbird occupying the largest share of the structure, "while a poor little red-eyed vireo occupied a small space at the bottom, and beneath his big foster brother."

The eggs of the cowbird hatch in eleven or twelve days. They average .88 by .65 of an inch, the length varying from .95 to .67 of an inch, and the width varying from .72 to .58 of an inch. The ground is a dingy white or gray, and the markings vary through all the shades of brown, sometimes evenly distributed over the surface, and at other times predominating around the larger end. There is so much diversity in the appearance of different specimens, that frequently the investigator is puzzled in distinguishing the true eggs of the towhee, cardinal, and other species from those of the cowbird.

In the breeding season the male grackles, red-winged blackbirds, and the cowbirds of both sexes, nightly congregate to roost together. Early after the breeding season they form into flocks of from fifty to sixty. The birds have then finished moulting, and the glossy black of the males has been changed into the duller colors of the females and the young. They assemble with the blackbirds of various species where food is most abundant and easy to be procured.

Late investigations of the food habits of the cowbird indicate that the species is largely beneficial. Prof. Beal showed the food of the cowbird to consist of animal and vegetable matter in the proportion of about twenty-eight per cent. of the latter. Spiders and harmful insects compose almost exclusively the animal food, while weed seeds, waste grain, and a few miscellaneous articles make up the vegetable food. Mr. Silloway thinks "it is not improbable that the so-called insectivorous birds displaced by the cowbird are thus kept in check by this natural agent, and their mission performed by the usurper in directions as helpful as the special functions of the sufferers. We may later come to understand that one cowbird is worth two bobolinks after all."