Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/605

* COWBIRD. 521 COWES. The parasitism of the cowbirds is their most striking characteristic, their behavior resembling that of the ICuropean cuckoo. None, except one, takes a mate, or makes a nest, or incubates its eggs. • Instead of this, when the breeding season (May and June) is at liand, the female ready to lay an egg quietly leaves the liock and stealth- ily seeks the home of some bird, from which the mother is temporarily absent, incubation not hav- ing begun. There she deposits her egg (see Col- ored Plate of Eggs of Soxg-Birds), to which she pays no more attention. It matters not whether the nest she visits has already its full supplj- of eggs, or even whether it already contains one or several eggs of her own species ; she will some- times throw out eggs of the owner to make room for her own. The egg of the eowbird usu- ally hatches in less time than do the eggs of the bird on which it is imposed, whereupon the rightful eggs, may be abandoned or thrown out; or, if some of them hatch, the young are speedily starved or smothered or elbowed out of the nest, while the foster-parents devote themselves to the care of the greedy stranger. He remains in the nest until it is reallj' outgrown, but even after he has left it he is cared for, for a time, by the birds that brought him up. But at last, when well able to fly, he seeks out others of his own kind, and the birds that have devoted themselves to him so assiduously have nothing to reward their pains. Over 100 species of birds are thus burdened with more or less frequency; but some will desert the nest rather than incubate the strange eg^g; others build a second story on the nest, leaving the cowbird's egg to perish below, hile they raise their own brood in the super- structure. The egg of the eowbird is a rather blunt oval, measuring, on the average, .84 by .05 of an inch, and is white or grayish, profusely speckled with browns, the general effect of which is. indis- tinct and pale; it is not easily mistaken for r.ny other bird's egg of its size. Several species of cowbirds inhabit Central and South America, and have similar habits, except in one instance, the bay-winged eowbird {Moluihrus badius) of Argentina and Bolivia, which difTers from the ordinary type in several ways, among others in having a low and pleasing song, which it delivers more or less all the year around. It does not abandon its eggs to the care of other nurses, but forms conjugal ties and occasionally makes a iiest of its own ; more often, however, it seizes upon the nests of other birds, and in their de- spoiled property lays its eggs and rears its own young. A circumstantial history of this inter- esting group and a discussion of bird-parasitism may be foinid in Sclater and Hudson. Arrjentine Ontillwlogy (London, 1888-89), largely re- printed by Bendire, in "The Cowbirds." in Re- port of the Xntiorwl Museum for 1S03 (illus- trated. Washington, 189.5). COWBOYS. (1 ) The name applied during the Revolutionary War to robbers, usually of cattle, sometimes of other property, who infested the roads east of the Hudson River between the British and American lines. They professed to be Tories. A similar band, professing to be Whigs, called 'Skinners.' plundered wayfarers at the same period and in the same places. See Cooper's romance Tlir f^p}i. (2) The name given to the mounted herds- men hired bv the o^vners of large herds of cat- tle to look after their stock. In the great herding districts of the We.st, where cattle roam over vast areas without fences or roads, and with only scattered and irregular places for water and shelter, the cowboys occupy an important place. It is their business to keep the cattle together, to guide them to pasture, to prevent their being mixed with other droves, to protect them from Indian and other thieves, to brand them at the proper seasons, and to drive them to market when they are ready for slaughter. COW'ELL, Edward Byles (I826-I903). An English Sanskrit scholar. Born at Ipswich, he was educated at Oxford. He went to Calcutta in lS.T(i. where he was professor of history in the Presidency College, and later principal of the Sanskrit College. In 1867 he was made profes- sor of Sanskrit in the University of Cambridge. His contributions to advancing the knowledge of India were made not only through his writings, but also through the inspiration he gave to his pupils, whose numbers were large. His associa- tion witJi Edward FitzGerald of Omar Khayyam fame is of interest in English literary history. Among Cowell's more important works may be mentioned: The Prakrit Orainniar of Vaninici (2d ed. ISliS) ; The Black Yajiir Vedu. books i., ii., in collaboration with Roer ( lS;5(i-(i4) : the KnsumanjaH (1804): The Rindu Law (1871); The Hindu Digest (1S73): The Aphorisms of Sniidili/a, translated from the Sanskrit (1878); The Sarva-darsana-Samgrdlia, translated from the Sanskrit, conjointly with Gough |1882): The Buddha-Carita of Asvaghosa, in Sanskrit and English (1892-94). COWEN", kou'cn, Frederic Hymen ( 18.52 — ) . An English musician, born at Kingston, Jamaica. His parents took him to London when four years old, and while still a child he became a pupil of Benedict and Goss in that city. In 1865 he went to Leipzig, where he studied under Hauptmaim, iloscheles. Reinecke, Richter. and Plaidy. In 1882 he became director of the Edinburgh Acad- emy of Music, and in 1887 succeeded Sir Arthur Sullivan as conductor of the London Philhar- monic. He was musical director of the Mel- bourne Centennial Exhibition (1888-89). and in 1890 was chosen conductor of the Liverpool Phil- harmonic and of the Manchester Concerts. His compositions include many songs, instrumental pieces, six svmphonies. the operas Pauline (1870), Thorgrim (1890), Signa (1893), and Harnld, or the Norman Conquest (1895). two oratorios, The Deluge (1878), and Ruth (1887), and a number of cantat,is, of which the best known is The Corsair (1870). COWES, kouz. A seaport and watering-place on the north coast of the Isle of Wight ( jlap : England. E 6). It consists of East and West Cowes. l.ving on opposite sides of the Medina. West Cowes is the more important of the two divisions, being the headquarters of the Royal Yacht Squadron, whose club has been located since 1856 in an old castle built by Henry VIII. Over two thousand of the pick of English sailors are employed as crews of the numerous yachts of the members. Several regattas are held an- nually, the principal in August, attracting crowds of visitors. Near East Cowes are several fine country' seats. Whippingham Church, and Os- borne House, the former royal seaside residence of Queen Victoria, now, with its grounds, a