"So it is, my boy; but the Cowbird is one of the exceptions I told you about; and I am glad to say there are very few."
The Cowbird
Length about seven and a half inches.
Male: very glossy black, excepting the head and neck, which are shiny dark brown like burnt coffee.
Female: dusky brown, the lower parts lighter than the upper.
A Citizen of the entire United States.
A Ground Gleaner and a Weed Warrior, to some extent, but a bad neighbor, a worse parent, a homeless vagabond, and an outlaw in Birdland.
ON AGAIN
The road crept down hill, passed through a village, and then into the woods once more. The children saw a great many bird friends—Swallows, Goldfinches, a beautiful Blue Jay, which was new to them, and some Yellow Warblers. They stopped for half an hour in the wooded lane, where a Chat whistled to them, a Scarlet Tanager flew hastily overhead, and the Doctor showed them a Towhee rambling among the leaves, while a little brownish bird kept flitting into the air and back to his perch, calling "pewee—pe-a-r!" in a sad voice.
"What's that?" asked Rap; "it's a bird I often see near the mill, catching flies on the wing."