152 



Bird - Lore 



V()l\\(; (HI 



1 XL- r-SIDKI) WARBLER AXD YOUXO COWBIRD AT AGE OF 

 FOUR AND ONE-HALF DAYS 



An idea of the disparity in size of the two nestlings may be gained from the 

 accompanying jjhotograph, which was taken at 3.30 p. M. on July 18, or when 

 the birds were about four and a half days old. I replaced them in the nest, but 

 that was the last I saw of the poor little Warbler. When I returned at 5 p.m. the 

 Cowbird was in sole and triumphant possession of the nest. Just what became 

 of the Chestnut-sided Warbler will never be known, but my theory is that weak- 

 ened by lack of sufficient food the little fel- 

 low at last became too feeble to raise him- 

 self at all and was crushed to death by the 

 Cowbird's gross body. The parent birds, re- 

 turning and finding the little corpse in the 

 bottom of the nest were no doubt impelled 

 by their instinctive sense of cleanliness to 

 carry it to a distance; for the most careful 

 search over a large area beneath the nest 

 failed to reveal any sign of the missing bird, 

 thus proving that it had not fallen from the 

 nest nor been forced out by the Cowbird. 



The Cowbird now had things all his own 

 way and, there being no one to dispute his 

 rij^lit to all thi' food, he grew with amazing 

 rapidit\ . The daintv little cup of a nest, 



CHESTNUT-SIDE FEEDING YOUNG ,' -i . ' i . , 



COWBIRD ON NEST ncvcr built to accommodate such a monster, 



