THE OOLOGIST 



109 



No. 64. Set Turkey Vulture's eggs with runt egg. 



-Photo bv R. :\I. Barnes. 



three days later. Will the reader 

 please bear in mind that during these 

 three days or' extra incubation, as far 

 as the writer could observe, the 

 thrush neglected to feed her own 

 young? 



Thus their growth and vigor was 

 stunted at the start. However, when 

 the young cowbirds were hatched they 

 immediately started to grow with 

 great rapidity. They put on their 

 feathers twice as fast as the young 

 thrushes and here is where the harm 

 comes in. As is the case with man- 

 kind, to give extra attention to the 

 strong and robust, and neglect the 

 weak, so it is with the birds. Mrs. 

 Thrush, her poor, misled heart filled 

 with .ioy at the wonderous develop- 

 ment of the two orphans, spent all 

 her time, gave all her food to them. 

 ■\Vhen the nest was visited after an 

 interval of three days, the young 



thrushes were the only occupants of 

 it. Their physical condition was piti- 

 ful. Their feathers were not half what 

 they should have been. They seemed 

 thinner and more scrawny than when 

 they were born. They were even too 

 weak to open their mouths and dis- 

 play an appetite as young birds always 

 do. Although the cowbirds were not 

 seen at all, the reader will doubtless 

 agree with me in my surmise that they 

 are now healthy, strong birds, fully 

 prepared and even eager to duplicate 

 the crime under which they were born. 

 The young thrushes disappeared from 

 the nest the next day, but I feel sure 

 that they fell prey to some squirrel 

 or chipmunk, at least they are not 

 now the beautiful matured thrush that 

 should have been. 



Such cases are doubtless very com- 

 mon. '\^ery few birds are immune 

 from this "Scourge of the Woods." 



