The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1904-12-03
THE TIRED COWBIRD
DOWNRIGHT LAZY is THIS BLACK
HOBO OF THE ORlOLE TRIBE.

Lays Its eggs In the Nests of Other
Birds and Never Troubles ItsclI
About Rearing Its Young
The cowbird was born so tired that ii
he could compel any other bird tt
gather his food for him he would do so
but he cannot, so he scratches about al
day among the herds Of cattle an(
sheep and goes to roost at night ii
great bands Of hundreds of his rela
tives, always selecting a bushy tree
such as a cypress, for a nights perch
All up and down the Mississippi river
these birds, for only in the depth OF
winter do they retreat to the warmc'
mesas Of Mexico, whittier most Of tho
other birds have preceded them. IN
the spring following such a white,
they are the first to return, filling al.
the new year air with their chatter and
lining the barnyard trees.
You must not think that the glossy
black and brown birds SO pl@ntlrl
around southern California barnyards
during the winter months are COW
birds. for they are not. They are call
ed "gracliles" and seem to be more lik
crows than bluckbirhs. You can fins
their nests, big, bulky affairs, in the
orange and cypress trees Of almost any
Of your ranch homes. There are many,
many members to the blackbird family
the sweet voiced meadow lurks and the
gorgeous golden orioles as well rs the
more sober colored blackbirds and
gracklcs, and of all these but one
forces the Matching of her eggs and
the feeding Of her young on to another
bird mother.
In England the cuckoo has this same
habit, but the American cuckoo builds
her nest and sits on her eggs as nicely
as any robin or dove could do. Some
times our road unn Sc far forgets
herself as to lay her eggs in the nest
of 4 quail or Il meadow lark, but not
often, but when she does the bird upon
whom Mrs. Road Runner tries to I'M
pose generally breaks the strange egg
or else goes away and leaves the nest
alone. Then the field mice II the
wood rats have a feast, to which some
times the road runner comes herself,
for she is very fond of eggs as long as
they are not her own.
But the cowbird eve makes any
such poor job as that. She always Sc
Iects the nest of some smaller birl-in
regions where warblcrs are plentiful
the home of one of these little singers
is most frequently chosen-and there
as many Egg as she thinks the owner
of the nest will submit to arc laid.
Sometimes the warbler goes right on
%incubating the intruder. but now y
then the two old birds get together
and dump the egg out Oh the ground.
Nests have been found in Which til"
warblers put Il mud floor over the fist
nest and built another one Oh top Of it,.
leaving their own riggs to spoil because
they knew no other way to rid them
selves of the cowbild. II the coWbiTi
comes back by the repaired nest she
will put another egg i'll it, and %c::e-'
ally this egg is Matched and raised by
the foster pair on whom it has Gcel
forced.
1t requires about ten OF eleven days
for The young cowbird to break the
shell, while most other birds Of its
size are two or three days longer. and
thus he has IL good start OH the other
nestlings in point of growth. When
Matched the cowbird is larger than the
sparrow or the warbler and conse-
quently gradually crowds them into
the background, taking all the food
that should belong to them. AS they
grow weaker from this he grows stron-
ger, and it is not long until he tips
them out of tie nest and is sole mas
ter of tile two old birds, who work
ceaselessly to satisfy his awful appe-
tito. In a very few days he gets TOO
large for the little nest and goes out
into the branches, where the old birds
still continue to feed him in Il way
they never do their own young after
they have left the nest. In Mexico
and South America there is a cowblrd
that sometimes builds Il nest OF her
w and sits upon and matches her
own eggs, but no such thing ever nap
pens among the black hobocs Of tile
oriolc family found farther north.
How many eggs a cowbird lays no
one knows, but as many as seven
have been found in n nest OF the
oven bird, Il kind of thrush found III
the eastern states. Usually. however,
only one egg is laid in each nest, cs-
pecially if the birds to whom the nest
belongs arc small and the nest too
little to hold more than II of the COW
birds young in comfort. The parent
cowbird never disturbs the eggs OF any
of the birds in whose nests she leaves
her own. knowing full we'll that If she
did so the nest builder would IN all
probability desert her home or throw
the strange egg out. Oftentimes more
than one cowbird lays In the same
nest, and, as no two eggs Of these
birds are ever exactly alike in color,
o may be sure that no cowbird
knows her own egg half a minute aft
er she has laid it.-Los Angeles Times