204 BIRDS 



feet cup about two inches deep, so nicely woven that one 

 would think it had just been turned out from a hemp 

 basket factory. It was so shut in from the daylight that 

 I had to separate the surrounding brush in order to make 

 a picture. 



This small bird is so strangely suspicious of human 

 invasion of its domain that it would invariably leave its 

 home before I could discover it, though my visits were 

 frequent, as the happenings in this particular nest were 

 of much importance to me. The old song of many years 

 ago was here surely exemplified: 



**Many a man rocks another man's son, 

 When he thinks he is rocking his own." 



Snugly nesting among the five beautifully formed 

 white eggs with brown spots was an egg of the vagabond 

 slacker, Cowbird, about three times as large as the 

 Vireo 's own, and having a dusky background with brown 

 blotches. 



I was delighted with my find, as I had long looked 

 for just the state of domestic affairs found in this bird 

 home. I made several pictures of the nest and contents, 

 then replaced the shading branches and left the bird to 

 continue the task of playing enforced foster-mother to 

 the Cowbird 's egg. 



Within a few days I visited the nest again and 

 found the shy and much-abused mother sitting on the 

 mixed brood of eggs. Two days later, the nest contained 

 a big hulk of a Cowbird. (Fig. 118.) The Vireo eggs 

 were not hatched, and the Vireo was busy feeding the 

 impostor. Four days later, the Cowbird was thriving and 

 was already larger than all four of the unhatched Vireo 

 eggs. The Vireo was trying to incubate her own eggs 

 and at the same time feed the tramp; thus they were 

 neglected and failed to hatch. At the end of six days 

 after the culprit had hatched, all of the Vireo eggs had 

 disappeared but the impostor was covered with pin 

 feathers and was as large as the Vireo. It was one con- 

 tinuous cry for more food so the Vireos were kept busy 

 and, in a "better-be-happy-than-wise" mood, continued 

 to sing in their blissful ignorance. 



