THE GRAFTER 227 



matter how much it was fed, so I sometimes gave it por- 

 tions when I fed my little vireo. In a few more days it 

 was able to sit on the side of the nest and beg for food, 

 meeting the vireos before they could get to their own 

 young at all. Now the young vireo depended entirely on 

 my bounty; but the mother bird had become so accus- 

 tomed to me that she did not resent my lending a hand. 

 Two days later this bird was fully fledged and ready to 

 fly. Then it was evident what it was — one of these brown- 

 black cowbirds. Almost as soon as it left the nest it was 

 able to care for itself and it soon joined the birds in the 

 pasture. The old birds welcomed it, but I have often won- 

 dered what it must have thought of its mother when it saw 

 her. Surely there is little respect or affection among such 

 birds. After that the vireos turned their attention to their 

 own young, and it was surprizing how it changed in ap- 

 pearance and grew. 



A survey of the birds' nests in the orchard and vineyard 

 revealed the fact that these were not the only birds that 

 had raised a cowbird. A pair of yellow warblers raised 

 one. When I found their nest it was the only bird in it. I 

 never knew what became of their own young, whether the 

 cowbird threw them out of the nest, whether they were 

 starved to death, or whether possibly they never hatched. 

 At any rate this bird was the only youngster that grew 

 to maturity. A pair of song sparrows raised a third. 

 Doubtless one or two other cowbirds were raised by other 

 small birds in the vicinity, but I never found them. Fur- 

 ther watching led me to know what hundreds of people 

 had known for a long time, that cowbirds never nest. 

 They sneak to the nests of the smaller birds and slyly de- 

 posit an egg in each nest until they have laid several 



