Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-23
THE WICKED cow BIRD.

Some of the Curious Habits of This
Feathered Species.
Most disreputable of all feathered crea-
lures is the cowbird. Not only does it re-
fuse to bring up its own young, laying its
eggs In the nests of other birds and leav-
ing them to take their chance of Matching,
but even in its marital relations it is not
respectable. So far as is known, it is the
only bird that practices polyandry, each
female having several husbands.
The cowbirds are found only in America
being related to the blackbirds, orioles and
bobolinks. The fact that they practice
polyandry seems to be due to the circum-
stance that the males outnumber the fe-
males three to one-though why this dis
proportion Of sexes should exist nobody
can say. Ordinarily these birds arrive in
good-sized f1ocks in the middle states dur
ing the latter half Of March, the males gen.
orally preceding the more somber colored
females by several days. Pretty soon the
f1ocks begin to break up and scN.ter in
small companies over the country They
prefer the river valleys and cultivated DIS
tricts, where other birds are abundant
The food of the cowbird consists princi-
pally of seeds Of noxious weeds, such as
ragweed, smartweed,, foXtail or pigeon
grass, wild rice and the smaller species of
grains. with. berries Of different kinds.
Also 1t eats grasshoppers, beetles, ticks.
flies and other insects. In this respect it
is rather beneficial to the farmer than
otherwise. .','t'-.
When the nesting season approaches the
males become very demonstrative in their
actions toward the females. but do not APP
pear TO mind the attentions paid by other
males to the same female, as other birds
usually do. Free lovers as they are. they
do not object to such trifles. 1t is a we'll
known fact that the cowbird is a parasite
building no nests, but laying its eggs
usually in the nests of smaller feathered
creatures. and leaving to them the labor
rn ra nf vi c
not forcibly drive the owner from its nest
but watches her opportunity to drop her
egg in 1t when 1t is unguarded. 1t is not
unusual to find some Of the eggs of the
species imposed on thrown out of the nest
to make room for those of the parasite
Among the species which suffer most
from depredations of the sort described
are the phoebe, song sparrow towhee, in
digo bunting. ovenbird and yellow-breasted
chat. The egg of the COW bird usually
matches In from ten to eleven days. gem
orally in advance of those of the foster
parent, and the growth of the young inter-
leper is rapid. To begin with, the cow
birds egg is bigger than those which be-
long In the nest, as rule. Accordingly 1t
gets more heat from the body of the foster
mother. while the other eggs are crowded
out and their incubation is delayed Often
they do not hatch at all, while the young
cowbird energies from the shell big and
thing edible that is brought to the nest by
its foster parent, while its adopted brothers
and sisters. II any of them are actually
Matched, starve to death. 1t seems strange
that the breeding birds thus imposed upon
do not discover the deception and expel
the invader. but they never seem to do So
On the contrary, they bestow upon it every
attention properly due to offspring of their
own. and the young cowbird, waxing
strong and growing at an astonishing rate,
Is prepared within half a dozen weeks to
take care of itself
Major Charles Bendire is the author of
monograph on the cowbird. to which the
writer is indebted for his information. 1t
will be published in the next annual report
of the National Museum. He says that he
has never seen a nest containing young
birds of both species more than few days
old. By that time the rightful Offspring
are either smothered or crowded out of the
nest by their stronger foster brother, or
starved, and he then absorbs the entire
attention of the parents. 1t can readily be
seen what an immense amount of harm a
cowbird causes in the economy of nature,
granting that only a single one of its eggs
Is Matched in a season. To accomplish this
brood of insectivorous and useful birds
Is almost invariably sacrificed for every
cowbird raised, and they are certainly not
diminishing in numbers.