458 



Bird- Lore 



The difficulty was overcome by making a 

 cage. The framework was about five feet 

 square, covered with wire netting left 

 from the garden fence. When the mem- 

 bers of the family are too busy to keep an 

 eye on 'Blarney,' he is put in his wire 

 house at some place on the lawn, either 

 in sunshine or shade, and a table is placed 

 inside for cat-naps. I can truthfully say 

 to cat lovers that Blarney apparently 

 enjoys the cage, never minding the loss 

 of former freedom. One day, after being 

 housed, he was found eating a Sparrow. 

 The bird probably went through the wire, 

 and the feline trait was ready for immedi- 

 ate action. — Sophia M. Newhouse, Col- 

 umbus, Ohio. 



The Brown Thrasher and the 

 Cowbird 



In 'North American Birds,' by Baird, 

 Brewer & Ridgway, Vol. 2, Page 155, we 

 find: "Mr. J. A. Allen saw, in Western 

 Iowa, a female Harporhynchus rufiis feed- 

 ing a nearly full-grown Cowbird; a very 

 interesting fact, and the only evidence 

 we now have that these birds are reared 

 by birds of superior size." 



This was, of course, written a great 

 many j'^ears ago, and probably many 

 observers have seen the same thing since. 

 I, however, had never seen a Cowbird 

 being fed by a Brown Thrasher, until 

 this year. On June 12, at Creve Coeur 

 Lake, a resort twenty miles from this city, 

 my daughter spied a young Brown 

 Thrasher in a low bush only a few feet in 

 front of us. We had been watching it 

 only a short time, when the old bird flew 

 down and fed it. I immediately set up 

 my camera, and, after photographing 

 the young bird, attached a long rubber 

 tube to the shutter, and retired about 

 twenty-five feet behind some shrubbery, 

 hoping to get a picture of the old bird 

 feeding the young one. I had no sooner 

 chosen my position, which commanded a 

 good view of all the surroundings, than a 

 young Cowbird flew up on a fence post 

 about fifteen feet away. This bird was 

 apparently full-grown, and, as it began to 



flutter its wings and beg for food, I was 

 very much interested to know who its 

 foster parent was, as I could not locate 

 the bird, which was evidently on the 

 ground behind the fence post. It proved 

 to be the Brown Thrasher, who, after 

 feeding the Cowbird, flew down to the 

 ground, to be followed an instant later 

 by the Cowbird; and for the ne.xt half 

 hour I saw this voracious youngster follow 

 the old bird all around the place, begging 

 for each morsel of food, and generally 

 getting it. In one instance, when the old 

 bird seemed determined to come over and 

 feed the young Thrasher on whom I had 

 the camera focused, the Cowbird grabbed 

 the worm which the Thrasher still held 

 on to, and actually tugged and fought 

 until the old bird relinquished her hold, 

 when the evidently choice morsel was 

 quickly swallowed by the ever hungr\' 

 Cowbird. In the meantime the young 

 Thrasher, who was nearly full grown, went 

 unfed, and I rather think the close proxim- 

 ity of the camera caused the mother bird 

 to stay away, although she certainly had 

 her 'hands' full, trying to stuff the Cow- 

 bird sufficiently to make it quiet down, 

 and let the balance of the family be fed. 

 This, however, was finally accomplished, 

 and I was very glad to see the old bird 

 come hopping along the ground toward 

 the shrub on which the young Thrasher 

 was sitting, its bill filled with insects, and 

 the Cowbird nowhere in sight. I had high 

 hopes for an interesting picture, but was 

 disappointed in this, for the old bird, 

 instead of flying up to the limb on which 

 the young bird sat, as it did when we first 

 saw it, stopped a few feet away and 

 chirruped to the young one, who immedi- 

 ately flew down to the ground and was fed. 

 I saw no sign of any other young 

 Thrashers, and suppose this was the only 

 one reared with the Cowbird. 



Strange to say that, of two instances of 

 the Cowbird coming under my observa- 

 tion this season, both were raised by larger 

 birds — the abovementioned case by the 

 Brown Thrasher, and the other by a Wood 

 Thrush. The latter nest contained three 

 young Thrushes, two of which grew up and 



