worker. He builds a verj- unsightly nest, much larger than seems to be necessary, 

 and if, after completion, it is torn down, he starts right in again to rebuild, and if 

 destroyed a second or even a third time, he persistently keeps at work until ho 

 finally conceives the idea that he is not wanted in that particular place. 



Of all the birds that I am acquainted with, the only one I happen to know 

 that is absolutely de\ oid of all maternal afifection is the cow bunting. This detest- 

 able birds neglect all family duty by laying its eggs, as everyone knows, in some 

 smaller bird's nest, and when hatched by the motherly little one, it often crowds 

 out the other legitimate occupants of the nest, and is carefully raised by its foster- 

 mother. Its own mother, in the meantime, is having a good time in an adjoining 

 pasture, following the cows, and gorging herself on crickets and other insects 

 which the cows scare up as they graze. These birds not only neglect to feed and 

 care for their young, but are too lazy to hunt for their own food, and allow the 

 cows to do that for them. 1 once heard a noise near my house which I thought 

 was made by a young robin, but investigation proved it to be a young cow bunting. 

 It had evidently just left the nest, and was flapping its wings and crying for food, 

 while a little chipping-sparrow, that had brought this thing into the world by 

 sacrificing her own brood, was endeavoring to supply. My first instinct was to 

 shoot the interloper, but on second thoughts I decided the little chippy was proud 

 of her big baby, and it would be a disappointment to her to lose him. It seeius 

 as though a bunting, if it is going to play such a trick on some other bird, might 

 at least select one of its own size. In advising the sluggard to emulate the Ijirds. 

 we must certainly make an exception of the cow bunting. 



The Pdlm Warbler {Demlroica palmarum) 

 By W. Leon Dawson 



Synonyms. — Red-poll Warbler; Yellow Red-poll Warbler (name now re- 

 stricted to subspecies D. p. hypochrysea) ; Wagtail Warbler. 



Description. — Adults: Crown chestnut: superciliary line yellow; extreme 

 forehead dusky, divided by short yellow line ; lores dusky : cheeks grayish, tinged 

 or streaked with chestnut ; upper tail-coverts yellow ; remaining upper parts gray- 

 ish brown, slightly tinged with olive ; wings and tail dusky, with obscure grayish 

 or greenish yellow edgings, the former without bars ; subteriuinal white spots, 

 usual to the genus, on two outer pairs of rectrices ; chin, throat and crissum clear 

 vellow ; remaining under parts yellowish or dingy, more or less streaked, especially 

 on sides, with dusky or pale rufous ; a loose necklace of small dusky spots. Jdiilt 

 in ivinter and immature: Crown-patch much obscured by brownish; superciliary 

 line whitish or bufl^y ; below, dingy white or buft'y with faint yellowish tinge ; breast 

 and sides obscurely streaked with dusky, and sides washed with brownish ; crissum 

 clear yellow; upper tail-coverts yellowish olive-brown. Length 4.50-5. .SO (114..S- 



514 



