226 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



belonged to some other kind of bird. But I was puzzled 

 about tbe difference in color. However, as there was oc- 

 casionally a variation in the color of the eggs of a chicken, 

 I thought little of that. I had set a number of these 

 large hen's eggs in hopes of getting a double chicken, but 

 none of them had ever hatched. Now I was anxious to 

 know whether this egg would hatch a double bird. 



Well, it did hatch and not into a double bird. Three 

 days before the other eggs hatched I found this one had 

 hatched a lusty little bird indeed. The vireos began feed- 

 ing it, but it was never satisfied. By the time the other 

 eggs were due to hatch, it had broken one of them, which 

 of course meant that the bird it contained was killed. I 

 carefully removed this dead bird with two sticks, but was 

 still ignorant of the character of the lusty bird that had 

 hatched before its fellows. 



When the other eggs hatched it was evident even to me 

 that they would not be the same kind of birds as this 

 stranger. I was more anxious than ever, however, to find 

 out what this bird would prove to be and so waited and 

 watched. The two young vireos had no chance for their 

 lives. They were so weak that their lusty mate managed to 

 get all the food the parents brought and trampled its nest- 

 mates until within two days one of them was dead. The 

 other evidently received little food for it grew slowly but 

 never seemed anything but starved. I felt sorry for it and 

 began feeding it with egg yolk, dutch cheese, and small 

 grasshoppers, often feeding it all it would eat two or three 

 times a day. It then began to thrive and I verily believe I 

 saved its life. 



The young stranger was beginning to get feathers and to 

 my surprize they were black. It never seemed satisfied no 



