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fellow nestlings, in size, strength and voracity, so that it requires and manages to 

 get all the food the parent birds bring to the nest, the result being that the proper 

 occupants of the nest are either starved to death or crowded out by the interloper, 

 which from that time until it is full grown taxes to the utmost all the energies of its 

 foster parents to supply its voracious appetite. Xothing can be more pitiable than 

 the plight of a pair of small birds upon whom one of these parasites has been foisted. 

 They are forced to raise an ugly foundling instead of their own young, and then by 

 reason of the long continued helplessness of their foster child they are prevented 

 from raising a second brood ; for although it quickly grows large and strong enough 

 to crowd out its fellow nestlings and its body develops rapidly, so that it can leave the 

 nest and follow its foster parents through the trees, yet its energy does not develop 

 proportionately with its body, and it requires to be fed for a longer period than the 

 young of any other small bird. The destruction of the natural enemies of this bird, 

 and the constantly enlarging area of cultivated land, both operate favorably for the 

 increase of this pest, so that it has become altogether too abundant. Of late years in 

 the southern part of Ontario it has swarmed everywhere, and I notice an egg of this 

 bird's in quite half the nests of other small species that I chance to find; of course 

 in every case I take it out and promptly smash it, thereby saving the proper brood. 

 It is to the increase of these creatures that I attribute almost wholly the decrease 

 which has become so noticeable in our more useful species. Some idea may be 

 obtained of the terrible destruction worked among the valuable species by Cowbirds, 

 by just noticing the immense flocks of them that occur here in the autumn, and re- 

 membering that for every one of those Cowbirds, a brood of some other species has 

 perished. Most of our insectivorous birds produce an average of about four young 

 to the brood, and some of them would raise two broods in a season ; the deposit of an 

 egg by the Cowbird in a nest prevents the raising of any young at all of iis own by the 

 bird victimized. Just how many eggs each Cowbird lays each season is rather uncer- 

 tain ; in all probability four or five are deposited. If that is so, every female Cowbird 

 that arrives here in the spring, and is allowed to follow her own method of repro- 

 duction, causes the loss of from fifteen to twenty-five of the young of our most valu- 

 able birds. In view of the great increase that has taken place in the numbers of this 

 bird of late years, it is not to be wondered at that our other native species are 

 decreasing, and we should take steps at once to regulate matters. Every person on 

 finding a nest of any of our small birds should look over the eggs contained in it, and 

 if one is found therein different from the others and corresponding to the descrip- 

 tion of the egg of the Cowbird, which I have already given, that egg should be taken 

 out and destroyed. School teachers throughout the country would do well to impress 

 this ixpon their pupils. 



Shooting the females in early spring is perhaps the most satisfactory way of 

 keeping down the number of this most undesirable bird, and I strongly urge every 

 one who has access to a gun to use it for this purpose, about his own premises : for, 

 as T have already pointed out, every Cowbird killed at this season means the salva- 

 tion of much valuable bird life and a corresponding lessening of our insect pests. 



BoholinJc. One of the most familiar sounds of summer in the country is the 

 merry rollicking song of the Bobolink, to be heard at all times in the fields of scent- 

 laden clover ; its bubbling notes, poured out in the exuberance of its spirits, seem to 

 express the feeling of joy that pervades all nature in June. The birds arrive here 

 about the middle of May, the males coming a few days before the females. They 

 resort at once to the hay meadows, and remain there through the nesting season, 

 which is concluded by the time the hay is ready to cut. Whilst on the farms their 



