warblers that breed in the Province. After the egg of the Cow bird is deposited, 

 the female takes no further interest in the matter, but leaves it to be hatched by 

 the real owner of the nest in which it has been placed ; in due time the young 

 will appear and then the trouble arises. In a few days the young Cow bird has 

 far outgrown its fellow nestlings, in size, strength and voracity, so that it requires 

 and manages to get all the food the pai-ent birds bring to the nest, the result 

 being that the proper occupants of the nest are either starved to death or crowded 

 out by the interloper, who from that time until it is full grown taxes to the 

 utmost all the energies of its foster parents to supply its voracious appetite' 

 Nothing can be more pitiable than the plight of a pair of small birds upon whom 

 one of these parasites has been foisted. They are forced to raise an ugly foundling 

 instead of their own young, and then by reason of the long continued helplessness 

 of their foster child, they are prevented from raising a second brood ; for although 

 it quickl}- grows largo and strong enough to crowd out its fellow nestlings and 

 its body develops rapidly, so that it can leave the nest and follow its foster 

 parents through the trees, yet its energy does not de\'elop proportionately with 

 its body, and it requires to be fed for a longer period than the young of any other 

 small bird. The destruction of the natural enemies of this bird, and the con- 

 stantly enlarging area of cultivated land, both operate favorably for the increase 

 of this pest, so that of late years it has become altogether too abundant, Last 

 year (1897) in the southern part of Ontario it swarmed ever}' where, and I noticed 

 an egg of this bird's in quite half the nests of other small species that I chanced 

 to tind; of course, in every case I took it out and promptly smashed it, thereby 

 saving the proper brood. It is to the increase of these creatures that I attribute 

 almost wholly the decrease which has become so noticeable in our more useful 

 species. Some idea may be obtained of the terrible destruction worked among 

 the valuable species by Cow birds by just noticing the immense flocks of them 

 that occur here in the autumn, and remembering that ibr every one of those Cow 

 birds, a brood of some other species has perished. Most of our insectivorous, 

 birds produce an average of about four young to a brood, and some of them 

 would i-aise two broods in a season ; the deposit of an egg by the Cow bird in a 

 nest prevents the raising of any J'oung at all of its own by the bird victimized. 

 Just how many eggs each Cow bird lays each season is rather uncertain ; in all 

 probability four or five are deposited. If that is so, every female Cow bird that 

 arrives here in the spring and is allowed to follow her own method of teproduc- 

 tion, causes the loss of Irom fifteen to twenty-five of the young of our most 

 valuable birds. In view of the great increase that has taken place in the num- 

 bers of this bird of late years, it is not to be wondered at that our other native 

 species are decreasing, and we should take .steps at once to regulate matters. 

 Every person on finding a nest of any of our small birds should look over the 

 eggs contained in it, and if one is found therein differing from the others and 

 corresponding to the description of the egg of the Cow bird which I have alreadj^ 

 given, that egg should be taken out and destroyed. School teachers throughout 

 the country would do well to impress this upon their pupils. 



Shooting the females in early spring is perhaps the most satisfactory way of 

 keeping down the number of this most undesirable bird, and I strongly urge 

 everyone who has access to a gun to use it for this purpose, about his own prem- 

 ises ; for, as I have already pointed out, every Cow bird killed at this season 

 means the salvation of much valuable bird life and a cori-esponding lessening of 

 our in.sect pects. 



Bobolivl:%^ One of the most familiar sounds of summer in the country is the 

 merry rollicking song of the Bobolink, to be heard at all times in the fields of 

 scent-laden clover ; its bubbling notes, poui-ed out in the exuberance of its .spirits. 



