COWBIRD
THE COWBIRD
American Blackbird Family—Icteridæ
Length: About 8 inches.
Male: Glossy black, with a brown head, neck, and breast; some metallic reflections on body, tail, and upper wing-feathers. Smaller than the grackle, with a shorter tail, less iridescence, and dark eyes. Like the grackle, the cowbird is a walker.
Female: Dark brown, with a grayish tinge; under parts lighter, especially the throat, which has two dark streaks outlining the light patch.
Call-note: A loud chuck.
Song: No real song, only a disagreeable gurgle, that is emitted with great effort.
Habitat: Pastures and open woodlands; usually seen on the ground, but sometimes in trees.
Range: North America. Breeds in central Canada, south to northern California, Nevada, northern New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina; winters from southeast California and the Ohio and Potomac Valleys to the Gulf Coast and Central Mexico.
The four common black birds—crows, grackles, redwings, and cowbirds—all have sins laid at their doors. Crows and blackbirds are grain-thieves and destroyers of the eggs and young of other birds; redwings have been accused of polygamy and theft; but if judged by human standards, none compare with cowbirds in what might be called moral degeneracy. Cowbirds not only mate promiscuously, but unlike blackbirds, have no regard for their own young. They are like the human mothers who lay their babies on doorsteps, depart, and let others rear them.
It is a well-known fact that the female cowbird always selects the nest of a bird smaller and weaker than herself in which to deposit her egg. Major Bendire lists ninety-one varieties of birds that have been thus outraged, frequent victims being the song sparrow, indigo bunting, parula warbler, yellow warbler, vireo, chipping sparrow, towhee, oven-bird, yellow-breasted chat, and even the tiny blue-gray gnatcatcher. From one to seven cowbirds’ eggs have been found at a time in other birds’ nests, often in the warm center of the nest. Unless the little bird should build a new floor, or abandon her nest entirely, the cowbird egg will hatch first, and the lusty changeling will demand the lion’s share of food and attention. Frequently the other eggs do not hatch; if they do, the young birds often perish with hunger and cold. When young cowbirds have been reared by their patient little foster-parents, they leave their benefactors and join flocks of their disreputable relatives.
In justice it must be said that cowbirds, like all villains, have a redeeming trait—they are great destroyers of weed seeds and insects. Like Cadmus and his band, they “Follow the Cow,” and enjoy the insects that she arouses as she walks about in pastures. When the cow lies down, they, too, pause; they have been known to hop upon her back in friendly fashion. Self-interest prompts them, however, for they know that they may find there a harvest of insects.
MEADOWLARK
THE MEADOWLARK
Called also Field Lark and Old Field Lark
American Blackbird Family—Icteridæ
Length: About 10¾ inches, a little larger than the robin; bill 1½ inches.
General Appearance: A large brown bird, with a short tail that shows conspicuous white feathers at each side in flight. The bright yellow breast crossed by a black crescent is less frequently seen.
Male and Female: Upper parts dark brown, mottled with black and buff; head striped, with a light line through the center and a yellow line over each eye, alternating with two dark stripes; cheeks gray; throat, breast, and belly yellow; a V-shaped band on breast; sides and lower part of belly whitish, streaked with black; bill long and sharp; tail short, (about 3 inches); outer tail-feathers almost entirely white; middle feathers brown, barred with black.
Call-note: A sharp nasal Yerk, and a twitter that sounds like a succession of rapid sneezes.
Song: A loud, clear, sweet refrain that usually consists of four syllables, but sometimes of five or six. It has been interpreted in various ways as follows:
Spring′-of—the-y-e′-a-r!
I love—you d-e-a-r.
I’m Mead′-ow-lar′-rk.
Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson tells of a lazy darky down South who interpreted the lark’s song as
“Laziness-will kill′ you.”[66]
Flight: Direct, yet fluttering; usually away from the observer, showing the brown back and white tail-feathers, as though the bird was conscious of its bright yellow breast.
Habitat: Cultivated meadows, and grassgrown fields, especially one containing a running brook for drinking and bathing. Its fondness for unmown fields has given it the name of “Old Field Lark.”[67]
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from eastern Minnesota and southern Canada, south to northern Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, and west to western Iowa, eastern Kansas, and northwestern Texas; winters regularly from southern New England and Ohio valley south to the Gulf States, and north locally to the Great Lakes and southern Maine.
In the South, from southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana and North Carolina to the coast of Texas, Louisiana, and southern Florida is found the SOUTHERN MEADOWLARK, smaller and darker than the northern species, and with a different song.
In the West, from British Columbia to Manitoba and south to southern California, northern Mexico, and Texas is the WESTERN MEADOWLARK, similar to its eastern relative in habits and plumage, but very different as to song. Its pure, sweet, liquid notes are among my most delightful memories of western birds.