THE TRAMPS OF BIRDLAND. 



ELANORA KINSLEY MARBLE. 



THE birds had met in council that 

 morning, and from the great 

 chattering and chirping I 

 judged some very serious ques- 

 tion was up before the board. 



"Something must be done," Mr. Red- 

 eyed Vireo was saying, as I sauntered 

 down to the orchard and seated myself 

 beneath an apple tree, "we have stood 

 the imposition long enough. Every 

 year we meet and draw up resolutions, 

 with many 'whereases' and 'where- 

 fores,' and 'aforesaids' — resolutions 

 with nothing resolute about them. To- 

 day, I say, something must be done." 



Mr. Wood-thrush, Mr. Towhee, Mr. 

 Chipping Sparrow, Mr. Yellow-breasted 

 Chat,Mr.Song Sparrow, and several Mr. 

 Flycatchers, beside a number of other 

 small birds, nodded their heads in une- 

 quivocal assent. 



"We have enemies enough," con- 

 tinued Mr. Vireo, "how many only 

 Mother Natureknows. Even in the dark- 

 ness of night we are not safe from the 

 owls, skunks, snakes, and other robbers, 

 and in the day-time, besides our feath- 

 ered foes, we have the ruthless 'collec- 

 tor,' and the ever-present bad boy. 

 Enemies without are bad enough, but 

 to have in our very midst a — a — " Mr. 

 Vireo paused, presumably choking with 

 indignation, but really because he had 

 quite forgotten what he had prepared 

 to say. 



"Hear, hear!" cried the assembled 

 birds, making a great clamor and clat- 

 ter in order that the speaker might 

 have a chance to slyly consult his notes. 



''A tribe of social outcasts — tramps, 

 in fact," continued Mr. Vireo, "whose 

 females, disliking the cares of family 

 life, build no homes of their own, but 

 instead deposit their eggs in some 

 other bird's nest that their young may 

 be hatched and reared without any 

 trouble to themselves. Our mates have 

 enough to do to bring up their own 

 families, so I say the tribe of cowbirds 

 must be driven from this community, 

 or else, like the rest of us, be forced to 

 work." 



"H'm! yes," sighed Mr. Towhee, 



"that's what we say every year, and 

 every year the conditions remain just 

 the same. The cowbirds are tramps 

 by nature, and you can't change their 

 natures, you know." 



I judged, from the great chattering 

 and chirping, that grave exceptions 

 were taken to this remark, but quiet at 

 length being restored, Mr. Towhee con- 

 tinued: 



"My mate says it depends upon our- 

 selves whether the whole tribe shall be 

 exterminated. She, for one, does not 

 intend to hatch out any more of Mrs. 

 Cowbird's babies. This spring we found 

 one of her speckled eggs in our nest, 

 but it wasn't hatched out, I warrant 

 you. We simply pierced the shell with 

 our bills, picked it up by the openings 

 and carried it out of the nest." 



A round of applause greeted these 

 remarks, much to Mr. Towhee's gratifi- 

 cation. 



"It strikes me,'' said Mr. Indigo 

 Bunting, "that the whole fault lies with 

 our mates. From the size and differ- 

 ent markings of Mrs. Cowbird's eggs 

 they can always be distinguished from 

 their own. No self-respecting bird 

 should ever brood one; in that way 

 we can exterminate the race." 



" 'Tis the mother-instinct, I presume,"' 

 said Mr. Vireo, "or the kindly nature of 

 some females, not to neglect a forlorn 

 little egg abandoned by its parents at 

 their very door. Ah," he broke off, 

 pointing in a certain direction, "is not 

 that a sad sight for an affectionate hus- 

 band to see?" 



On a fence near by stood two birds — 

 a very small one, with a worried, har- 

 assed air, endeavoring upon tip-toe to 

 drop into the mouth of the great fat 

 baby towering above her a green cater- 

 pillar which she held in her bill. 



"That is Mrs.Vireo, my mate, and her 

 foster child," continued the speaker. 

 "The egg of the cowbird being larger 

 than her own, received all the warmth 

 of her breast, so that her own little 

 ones perished in the shell. It takes all 

 her time and strength to feed that great 

 hulking baby, who will accept her nurs- 



