patteson] 



ICHABOD FOUNDLING 



169 



When he had enoutrh he closed his bill. 



nice enough for this child of my heart, and was not willing to let 

 him depart a nonentity. 



Meanwhile a neighbor called and demanded to know what this 

 newcomer was. 



"Why, a Towhee," I answered. 



"A Towhee?" repeated the neighbor, with an incredulous 

 inflexion. 



I had noticed that my portege was uncommonly large for a 

 baby Towhee, and that instead of the light front and dark brown 

 back of young Towhees his entire plumage was a mottled olive 

 brown. 



"Some lazy Cowbird" — the neighbor went on — "imposed an 

 egg on your Towhee; for this is nothing but a Cowbird." 



Recalling now the fact that a Cowbird had called insistently 

 during the hour I waited beside the Towhees' nest, and knowing 



