THE O OLD GIST 



63 



scarred the set of Acclpiter Fuscus. was 

 seen within a foot of the nest with the fe- 

 male covering the eggs as the climber as- 

 cended the hemlock. In the instance of 

 the Cooper's Hawk, the marabder was 

 t'aught in the act by the female and hust- 

 led away without ceremony. I had prev- 

 iously startled the hawk from her nest, and 

 was an eye'witness to her savage return. 

 Am of the opinion that the squirrel ate 

 one or two of the eggs here, for I got but 

 three, though waiting a good while for the 

 full complement which with this hawk is 

 oftener five than four. 



In \YcstChester, in the spring of '75, saw 

 a red squirrel go into a Bluebird's box, 

 twice come out with the lovely emeralds, 

 and as he leisurely strolled in for his third 

 prize he was driven away. In Norwich, 

 in June, '76, I saw one go into an House 

 Sparrow's box and destroy a full clutch of 

 six eggs. Here, luckily, no one felt called 

 upon to interfere, considering it in the 

 light of a just reprisal. The House Spar- 

 row now commonly drives away the White 

 bellied Swallows and Bluebirds from their 

 old tenements, and has been seen last sea- 

 son to make war upon house Pewees and 

 rend their mossy homes in pieces. And 

 any order of nature that tends to keep 

 down the numbers of this immigrant 

 should win our approval. Have also seen 

 the red squirrel throw out the eggs of 

 RobiLS, and on several occasions noticed 

 the tawny Chicaree pursued by a pair of 

 angry Robins, when the inference was he 

 had been indulging his birds' nesting pro- 

 pensities. 



In early June mornings, before the jan- 

 itors were up, have seen a colony of Crow 

 Blackb^ds go through the Yantic ceme- 

 tery and swiftly and silently visit every 

 Robin's nest in as regular business-like 

 way as a company of sailors egging on the 

 breeding islands pay their compliments to 

 the Gulls and Guillemots on their morning 

 round. Crow Blackbirds are the most in- 

 tolerable of these pests. They eat the 

 young Squabs also, and in summer the in- 

 cessant cries of the Robins harried by 



Grackles are common in our up-town 

 streets. The Cuckoo is to much malinged 

 iu this connection. He is so much less in 

 numbers than the Grackle and never in 

 counnunities. Do not even believe it does 

 half as much damage as the cow bunting. 

 Others than myself no doubt have often 

 debated whether it was not our duty to 

 throw out on the ground every Cow bird's 

 egg we find ; for as certainly as the egg 

 hatches in the case of the social Sparrow, 

 Yellow and Chestnut-sided Warblers, and 

 such suiiill Iry, so surely will the parasite 

 when half-grown thrust out the rightful 

 occupants to perish. Have even seen the 

 Cuckoo breeding at peace with a colony of 

 Red-winged Starlings, in the same thicket 

 with a paii^ of Catbirds, and on one occa- 

 sion in a swamp- blueberry bush directly 

 under a white birch in which was a Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak's nest. Perhaps while 

 nesting they enter into an alliance, offen- 

 sive and defensive, with their neighbors, 

 but we have sufficient reason to think that 

 when the young clamor for food the Cuck- 

 oos will be the first to break the armistice. 

 Have seen a Baltimore Oriole tear to shreds 

 the nest of of a Red-eyed Vireo — but this 

 was malicious mischief, for the eggs were 

 not eaten. On a farm in the suburbs one 

 morniijglast summer saw a chained monk- 

 ey get loose, climb the old apple-trees and 

 eat two sets of Bluebirds' eggs in a twink- 

 ling. But he was an exotic, and we may 

 not look for his re-appearance in any ""oc- 

 casional " or "-accideutal " list. Have also 

 known a young dog to devour a set Wood- 

 cocks' eggs ; and tliough cats may not ac- 

 tually eat eggs, like their wild congeners, 

 yet the great numbers of young birds they 

 kill every season is known to all. 



So, I repeat in conclusion, that when a 

 collector steels his heart enough to take an 

 occasional set of eggs, he has plenty of 

 company in his unholy work, and it would 

 seem to be next to impossible for any bird 

 ever in safety to rear its young. Yet such 

 is the admirable order of nature that we 

 see every year the same number of Thrush- 

 es, the same number of Warblers and the 



