274 NOTES ON THE 



frequently the sparrow or thrushes. I believe that the Cow- 

 bird is without the slightest preference as to what, or whose 

 nest receives her mysterious deposit, but her instincts have 

 taught her not to take such liberties with the nests of rapaci- 

 ous, nor pugnacious species, and as a matter of course the 

 unwelcome responsibility falls more commonly upon the weak 

 and timid. The thrushes therefore ordinarily escape, and 

 most of the vireos do so next in frequency, while the tiny 

 warblers, and the less vigilant sparrows, bear the imposition 

 more uniformly. Notably, the period of incubation for this 

 species is a little less, than for any one of those which are 

 thus imposed upon, thus increasing the probabilities of the 

 maintenance of the species. One of the most comical spec- 

 tacles ever falling under my observation in bird- life, has been 

 the appearance of a young Cowbird nearly large enough to 

 take to its wings, still sitting on (in was impossible) the nest 

 of the Maryland Yellow- throat, and the female of that diminu- 

 tive species in the act of feeding it. The tiny excavation 

 could scarcely afford room for its feet, to say nottiing of its body, 

 and with its feathers fluffed so much as to double its apparent 

 size, the mouth extended to its utmost, while the midget foster 

 mother, at the hazard of being swallowed herself bodily, 

 plunging her morsels far down the abyssal throat of the 

 ungracious usurper, who has unavoidably destroyed the 

 mothers own birdling in the process of its development. 



Let that species of birds which has no foundlings to rear, 

 question this strange and exceptional provision of a beneficent 

 Creator for the perpetuation of another species. Great rules 

 are often revealed by their exceptions. The birds have no 

 decalogue. What poor little bird-mother, so long imprisoned 

 by her duties in obedience to the demands of her maternal 

 instincts, may not justly envy this one, which has all of the 

 pleasures, and none of the sacrifices of bird-life, except the 

 agonizing anxieties of the brief moment spent in extruding her 

 egg into another birds nest? 



From all that I have learned from personal observations, I 

 conclude that the Cowbird lays about the same number of 

 eggs as the average of its family. It is not uncommon to 

 find two in the same nest, and only a little less so to find three. 

 I have recorded two instances of four, and one of five. It is 

 by no means certain in any case where more than one is found 

 that the same female deposited all of them. Indeed it is more 

 presumptive that if her instincts should send her to the same 



