THE COW-BIRD 



" Cow-birds," I answered. " When did you first notice this? " 



"Early this morning," replied Bob. "I heard the Warbler 

 fretting and went tosee if a snakeor squirrel were bothering them. 

 Two of their eggs were gone and those two big speckled things in 

 their place. Make your study quickly if you want one, for I am 

 going to smash them." 



"Oh, no, you!re not, Bob," I pleaded. "I wouldn't have 

 you touch that nest for a farm. Those Warblers have just begun 

 brooding and the Cow-birds have disturbed them all they will 

 endure already. We will slip away quietly while you guard that 

 nest as you never before guarded one. It is most uncommon for 

 a Cow-bird to leave two eggs in a nest, so if they hatch, with 

 those tiny Warblers, why then, we shall have a picture worth 

 talking about." 



"But will the Warbler brood on them?" protested Bob. 



"Hasn't she been on them all day?" 



"All day," growled Bob, "and nothing but waiting for you 

 ever kept me from pitching them out. I don't see how a bird 

 almost as big as a Blackbird ever laid in that tiny nest, and what 

 became of the AVarbler eggs?" 



"The Cow-bird ate them," I answered. "She disposed of 

 one each time she deposited one, though how she managed to drop 

 an egg in that nest without breaking the \Varbler's is a mystery." 



"I can easily break hers, right now," volunteered Bob, with 

 that twinkle in his eye in response to which his discerning mother 

 named him Bob Burdette. 



"But you never will, Bob," I coaxed. "What you will do is 

 to stand guard and make sure they hatch, and in the meantime 

 find me the other Cow-bird eggs. She will lay two more, possibly 

 three." 



"What! "cried Bob. 



"I said you would find me the remainder of her eggs. . We 



267 



