A bird with a dual personality; welcome minstrel of the meadows when nesting, dread scourge of the rice-fields when traveling. With the loss of his trim suit of black, white, and buff, Bob loses also his merry tinkling, rippling song, and acquires with his streaked Reedbird suit a single watchword. Tink, tink he calls from somewhere overhead, and tink, tink his comrades answer as they follow a trackless path through the sky on their 5000-mile journey.
The nest is placed on the ground and 4-7 grayish, blotched eggs are laid late in May or early in June.
COWBIRD
Molothrus ater ater. [Case 5], Figs. 8, 9
The male's brown head distinguishes him from other Blackbirds; the female wears a dull gray garb well designed to make her inconspicuous. L. 8.
Range. North America; nesting from North Carolina and Louisiana to Canada; winters from Virginia and Ohio southward.
Washington, rather rare P.R., common T.V. Ossining, common S.R., Mch. 23-Nov. 11. Cambridge, common S.R., Mch. 25-Nov. 1; occasional in winter. N. Ohio, abundant S.R., Mch. 10-Nov. 15. Glen Ellyn, common S.R., Mch. 15-Sept. 10. SE. Minn., common S.R., Apl. 11-Aug. 19.
Outlaws among birds, they pair not neither do they build. Without moral standards or maternal instincts the female accepts the attention of any male that chances to win her fancy and deposits her eggs in the nests of other birds. She is a slacker and a shirker, who keeps much in the background during the breeding season. Color, habit, his sliding, glassy whistle, and guttural gurgling, make the male conspicuous. Leaving the care of their foster parents the young join others of their kind and flock in the grainfields or about cattle in the pastures.
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus. [Case 6], Fig. 45
Large size and a yellow head distinguish the male; the female is duller, the body brownish, the head yellowish. L. 10.
Range. Mississippi Valley and westward, breeding from northern Illinois northward to Canada; winters from the west Gulf coast and southern California into Mexico; accidental east of the Alleghanies.