cow TROOPIAL, OR COW BLACK-BIRD. 181 



greedy brood of our Cow-bird. When the female is dis- 

 posed to lay, she appears restless and dejected, and sepa- 

 rates from the unregarding flock. Stealing through the 

 woods and thickets, she pries into the bushes and bram- 

 bles for the nest that suits her, into which she darts, in 

 the absence of its owner, and in a few minutes is seen 

 to rise on the wing, cheerful and relieved from the anx- 

 iety that oppressed her, and proceeds back to the flock, 

 she had so reluctantly forsaken. If the egg be deposited 

 in the nest alone, it is uniformly forsaken ; but if the nurs- 

 ing parent have any of her own, she immediately begins 

 to sit. The Red-eyed Fly-catcher, in whose beautiful 

 basket-like nests I have observed these eggs, proves a 

 very affectionate and assiduous nurse to the uncouth 

 foundling. In one of these I found an egg of each bird, 

 and the hen already sitting.* I took her own egg and 

 left the strange one ; she soon returned, and, as if sensi- 

 ble of what had happened, looked with steadfast attention, 

 and shifted the egg about, then sat upon it, but soon 

 moved off", again renewed her observation, and it was a 

 considerable time before she seemed willing to take her 

 seat ; but at length I left her on the nest. Two or three 

 days after, I found that she had relinquished her 

 attention to the strange egg, and forsaken the premises. 

 Another of these birds, however, forsook the nest on 

 taking out the Cow-bird's egg, although she had still 2 of 

 her own left. The only example, perhaps, to the contrary 

 of deserting the nest when solely occupied by the stray 

 egg, is in the Blue-bird, who, attached strongly to the breed- 

 ing places, in which it often continues for several years, 

 has been known to lay, though with apparent reluctance, 

 after the deposition of the Cow-bird's egg. My friend, 



* I have observed this present season (1831) the hen sitting on 2 eggs, and one of 

 the Cow-bird. 



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