78 Bird-Nesting 



Couse's account of the habits of this bird is very interesting : 

 he says, " It is interesting to observe the female cowbird read}' 

 to lay : she becomes disquieted, betrays unwonted excitement, 

 and ceases her busy search for food with her companions. At 

 length she separates from the flock and sallies forth to recon- 

 noitre, anxiously indeed, for her case is urgent and she has no 

 home. How obtrusive is the sad analogy ! She flies to some 

 thicket, or hedgerow, or other common resort of birds, where 

 something teaches her — perhaps experience — nests will be 

 found. Stealthily and in perfect silence she flits along, peer- 

 ing furtively, alternately elated or dejected, into the depths of 

 the foliage : she espies a nest, but the owner's head peeps over 

 the brim and she must pass on. Now, however, comes her 

 chance, there is the very nest she wants, and the owner not at 

 home. She disappears for a few minutes, and it is almost 

 another bird that comes out of the bush. Her business done 

 and trouble over, she chuckles her self-congi'atulations, rustles 

 her plumage to adjust it firmly, and flies back to her associ- 

 ates. They know what has happened, but are discreet enough 

 to say nothing." It does not appear that the cowbird ever at- 

 tempts to take forcible possession of a nest : she lays her Qgg 

 while the owners of the nest are away. On their return, the 

 owners of the nest hold anxious consultation in this emer- 

 gency, as their sorrowful cries and distracted actions plainly 

 indicate. If the nest was empty before, they generallj'^ desert 

 it : sometimes even after there is an &gg of their own in the 

 nest, they have nerve enough to let it go, and desert the nest, 

 rather than assume the hateful task of incubating the strange 

 one ; but if the female has already laid an &g^g or two the 

 pair generally settle into the reluctant conviction that there is 

 no help for it, they quiet down, and things go on as if nothing 

 had happened. Not always, however, will they desert even 

 an empty nest : for some birds have discovered a way out of 

 the difficulty — it is the most ingenious device imaginable, and 

 tlie more we think of it the more astonishing it seems. They 

 build a two-story nest, leaving the obnoxious egg in the base- 

 ment. The summer yellow bird has been known to do this. 



