tion knew no bounds; he was furious. 



He might have been jealous that 

 Peepsy went abroad while he stayed at 

 home; anyway, he pounced upon his 

 brother in angry passion, caught his 

 foot and jerked him off the perch, 

 pulled out his feathers and tumbled 

 him over upon the floor, when I inter- 

 fered promptly. 



As it was past their bedtime I saw 

 them safely asleep, both little heads 

 laid snugly against their wings, and 

 thought by morning the quarrel would 

 be forgotten. When I saw them next 

 poor little Peepsy lay dead upon the 



cage floor. I strongly suspect that 

 Robert rose early to help him out of 

 the world ; at least there was no appear- 

 ance of suicide! 



The remaining twin sang freely for a 

 few hours; he had vanquished an im- 

 aginary foe and was singing the song 

 of him who overcometh. 



After that he seemed preyed upon 

 by remorse, nor was he ever himself 

 again, refusing food and pining away 

 gradually through the few remaining 

 weeks of his short life, when, in spite 

 of all his faults, he died, as the story- 

 books say, much loved and lamented. 



THE COWBIRD. 



{Molothrus aier.) 



C. C. M. 



B 



UFFALO-BIRD" was formerly 

 one of the names applied to 

 this bird of strange habits, and 

 Major Bendire, who was long 

 an observer of all that took place on 

 the plains, states that one will rarely 

 see a bunch of cattle without an at- 

 tending flock of cowbirds, who perch 

 on their backs searching for parasites, 

 or sit with "lazy ease," their familiarity 

 with the cattle suggesting their name 

 of cowbird. They also follow the 

 freshly plowed furrows and pick up 

 worms and larvae. Mr. P. M. .Silloway, 

 who has made a very extended and 

 careful study of the cowbird, says that 

 its strange behavior and stealthy move- 

 ments at certain seasons have pre- 

 vented the acquisition of full data con- 

 cerning many features of its life, and 

 a few unfounded speculations about 

 its habits have become current. It oc- 

 cupies a parallel place with the Euro- 

 pean cuckoo. It never builds a nest, 

 but deposits its eggs in the homes of 

 other birds, usually those of the 

 smaller species. It is, therefore, a 

 homeless creature, and its young are 

 all orphans or adopted children. "It 



is, indeed, a peculiar bird, having no 

 attractiveness of color, no beauty of 

 voice, and no home. No wonder that, 

 when in the haunts of other species, it 

 hides and skulks as it seeks a suitable 

 and convenient habitation to house its 

 unborn orphan." Major Bendire gives 

 a list of ninety-one birds in whose 

 nests she has been known to leave her 

 ^ggs. This includes woodpeckers, 

 flycatchers, orioles, thrushes, sparrows, 

 vireos, wrens, and warblers, but the 

 most frequently imposed upon are 

 so small that the cowbird's big nest- 

 ling is almost certain to be the one 

 to survive, the smaller birds being 

 crowded out, and left to perish. It is 

 ?aid that as many as seven cowbird 

 eggs have been found in a single nest, 

 but there is generally only one. It is 

 believed that a brood of insectivorous 

 and useful birds is almost invariably 

 sacrificed for every cowbird raised. 

 Mr. Ridgway, in his fascinating book 

 on the birds of Illinois, gives the fol- 

 lowing vivid picture of the female 

 searching for a nest in which to de- 

 posit her egg: "She hunts stealthily 

 through the woods, usually among the 



224 



