THE- COW-BIRD 



frenzy of excitement, so Bob decided that she had found a place 

 to deposit her last egg and was rejoicing over the successful plac- 

 ing of her family. 



He entered the bushes locating the nest of an Indigo Finch 

 that he had not suspected was there. There were two of the 

 delicate opalescent eggs of the Finch with the last egg of the 

 Cow-bird, still warm to the touch. Again there was a hurry call. 

 The study was beautiful. Bob unceremoniously dumped that 

 egg also. 



He heroically stood guard at the Warbler's nest and every few 

 days we speculated as to what would happen there. Suppose 

 all four of the eggs hatched. Would those dainty little Warblers 

 be able to supply food for the Cow-birds and their own babies 

 also? Would they feed their own and starve the strangers? Or 

 would the beaks that could open widest and lift highest get all the 

 food and the Warbler babies be trampled underfoot and die of 

 hunger? 



These questions soon were settled. All four of the eggs 

 hatched, and although the Warbler babies should have been out 

 first, we were amazed to see the Cow-birds emerge the same day, 

 thereby clearly proving that they required several days' shorter 

 incubation than the young among which they, were placed. 

 The Cow-birds were three times the size of the Warblers in the 

 beginning so they filled the nest. They crowded from the first. 

 Scarcely was their down dry until they lifted sturdy big heads, 

 opened cavernous mouths and the clamour for food began. 



The tiny specks of bugs and worms that the Warblers were 

 able to collect made small impression on their ravenous appetites. 

 All day their heads were up, their mouths wide open. All day 

 those little Warbler parents darted hither and thither, nervously 

 searching for food to satisfy the greed of the foster children 

 thrust so unceremoniously upon them. If their own succeeded in 



271 



