AMERICAN FINCHES. 43 



premises, which, when it is about a week old, it 

 fills completely up.* I have seen the young Cow- 

 pen Finch in the nest of the American Gold- 

 finch, the White-eyed Vireo. and Maryland Yellow 

 Throat ; and there are three or four more whose 

 nests it selects for the purpose of incubation. 



This cannot by any means be termed a 

 songster ; but if not famous for song he is, and 

 will be, celebrated in the history of American 

 birds, as being in his habits the only exception 

 (as far as is known) to the common laws of na- 

 ture which govern his tribe, on this continent. 



Although the note of this bird is not at all 

 attractive, being a kind of chattering, they are a 

 very pretty bird, and they keep themselves neat 

 and clean in a cage. Some years ago I saw one 

 that an elderly lady had kept for three years in a 

 cage, as she said, for the history that was attach- 

 ed to it. It was a male, jet black, with purple 

 and violet reflections, and was in fine plumage ; 

 it was quite a favorite with the old lady. 



* It is supposed by some that on the young Cowbird being 

 batched, the proprietors of the nest remove the eggs. It is said, 

 that the Cuckoo (the eggs there being all hatched at the same time) 

 hustles the other young out of the nest, or gets them on its back and 

 jerks them out. In whatever way it is brought about, it is certain 

 that the other young birds with the Cuckoo, and the eggs with the 

 Cowbird disappear, and the foundlings become the sole occupants of 

 the premises. 



