Evening star., 1901-12-21
THE COW BIRDS
Resemble Blackbirds, but Are a Triae
Smaller.
ALWAYS Feed AMONG THE CATTLE
The Male Has Glossy Coat, but
the Female a Dull One.
NEVER BUILD A NEST

NEVER BUILD A NEST
Copyright. 1901. by Hughes and ousley, Leuisville
/ Written for The Evening Star
Early some spring morning, while the
| COWS wait at the bars to be MIXED, you
| may see q small flock Of blackbirds fly
| down into nearby tree top and whistle
| few low notes. The series of notes can
1 hardly be called a song, but it is very
| pleasing. as the notes have a bubbllng
| explosive sound as though they were being
| forced through a throat full of water. If
| you look at these birds carefully you will
notice that they are much smaller than any
| OF their relatives the backbirds proper.
The COW bird is stouter and more COM
the tail is shorter
! During the summer months, as well as
in the fall and spring, these birds remain
in small, loose 1ocks. frequenting the feed
ing lots and the open pastures where they
can be near the cattle. The name, cow
| birds, or cow-pea buntings, is well given to
| them, as they are rarely seen feeding ex-
| cept among cattle or horses. 1t is pretty
sight to watch flock of them flying high
| overhead and then sweep down when they
| spy herd Of cattle feeding in the open
| pasture land.
| The birds walk sedately about among
the cattle, never seeming to be on the
| lookout. and yet always moving just in
time to miss being tramped upon. They
| allow the moving cattle to frighten the in
sects from the grass and then they sud
| denly take the bugs on the wing in fly
| catcher STYLE
| A Real Wanderer.
| When one watches natures children and
sees how, in the course of time, some ami
| NAL has become dependent on another for
| its very existence, 1t seems marvellous. OF
! course we know that a great many insects
and other low forms of life have become
absolutely helpless parasites; but it is un-
| usual for birds to grow even to a small
degree parasitical.
! This little bird has become a nomad, a
| Wanderer, following the cattle and having
| no fixed home and building no nest. Indeed,
| they do not even pair Off during the breed
| ing season, but remain in focks the whole
year. The female lays her eggs in another
| birds nest and allows the other bird to
! perform the duties Of motherhood for her.
Her methods are exactly like those of the
| european cuckoo. Strange to say, our
| cuckoos are generally fond parents, and
this little biackbird is our only parasitical
| bird.
The female COW bird shows her cunning
by usually depositing her egg in the nest
| of some smaller bird If the egg was
| placed in the nest of a larger bird, the
t young cow birds chances of getting a good
|
| among smaller birds, it usually obtains the
| lions share. Sometimes the little home
| makers discover the imposition which has
| been forced upon them and throw the egg
| out of the nest At other times they desert
| their nest and build new one.
| l remember seeing beautiful photograph
of the nest of warbler in which COW bird
| had slipped an egg. On discovering the
| strange egg the warbler had built another
| story on the nest, completely covering the
egg of the cow bird. Again, the cow bird
another story was added to the already
| tail home. No COW birds egg being placed
| in this third story, the warbler Matched and
| reared her brood in peace and quiet.
| Greedy Foster Children.
| To the small mother birds which have the
misfortune to rear one Of these foster chill
dren life must be almost constant night
| mare. They must often wonder how it was
possible for them to have such a large and
greedy child. If the nest should become
| crowded, the young COW bird is apt to push
some of it's foster brothers and sisters out.
| The peculiar custom of builaing no nest
| and allowing some other bird to rear it's
| know that this little bird be,o ,ongs to a cele-
| brated family Of weavers. He is close
| kinsman to the common red-winged black
| bird, which weaves beautiful nest in the
| cat tails In swamp ground and Is devoted
| parent. His cousin, the Baltimore oriole,
| is our most wonderful nest builder, making
long, pendant nests which hang from the
| ends Of swaying branches. Really, the case
Of these birds becomes more and more per-
picking the more one studies it.
| 1t seems rather odd that after the young
cow bird has spent it's early life; in the nest
| OF some sparrow or warbler it should not
! remain with its foster brothers and sisters.
| But it appears to have no idea Of being
taught to live like any other birds, for as
| soon as it can fly it joins rowing, jolly
| band Of its own kindred and soon becomes
| nomad like the rest.
| Have Good Traits.
AS have stood watching these birds sit
| ting In the tree tops near the feeding cat
| tie. the males swelling themselves as ley
force their low. liquid notes up through
! their glossy throats, 1 could not feel that
they were such knaves after all. Man is
prone to say that this animal or that bird
| is cruel and heartless, tat this one is lazy
and that one useless; and he fails to real
| iZe that he himself is the most cruel of all
natures children. All Of our higher and
| better qualities and sensibilities are large
| ly a matter of culture and education. Few
young children have any idea Of the proper
| quires great amount of patient training
| to get child to mentally put itself in an
animals place and realize that it can feel
| pain just as the child can.
Man having become the dominant animal
| OF this globe, feels that all else in nature
was designed for his use and pleasure. Why
| he feels this 1t is hard to say unless he
has trained his senses until he is capable
! of enjoying a wide range of nerve sensa-
tions But who can or dare say what the
| lower animals know and feel? We have
absolutely no way to find out. Who can
say what sounds mole working deep in the
damp soil may hear? Is it possible for him
| to hear the roots at worn as they force
their W y through the ground. and can he
hear the glad rush Of the sap as It wakes
| in early spring and climbs upward to paint
the woods again? When one begins to spec
ulate about nature and her children there
is no stopping place. The best plan is SIM
ply to learn to love and appreciate the beau
tiful in all nature.
In Handsome Black.
The m 'e cow bird has handsome suit of
black and wears fine brown color on head
and neck. His mate is not nearly so large
and is. quite dull colored, showing no Jet
black at all, but an almost uniform brown
ish black. AS the female does not build a
nest and does not incuhate, it seems rather
peculiar that she should nave such marked
I