A HERMIT'S WILD FRIENDS 



of cowbirds resorted to the pond for water. 

 It gave the young cowbird a good chance to 

 go with its kind. Several times I saw cow- 

 birds approach the youngster, but he always 

 fled as if he thought that his life was in dan- 

 ger. He acted just as young tame crows do 

 when they see other crows near them. That 

 fall all the chewinks, that is, the old ones and 

 the first brood, with the cowbird, remained 

 about the dooryard until migration. The 

 second brood of chewinks was destroyed by 

 a snake, after which the first family was 

 brought back. The next spring the cowbird 

 did not return with the chewinks. As a matter 

 of fact, only two of the five chewinks returned. 

 I suppose the others were killed in the rice- 

 fields. I had wired the cowbird with copper 

 wire, so looked for him in the different flocks 

 in my locality. He was not to be found, and 

 was probably shot because he was with the 

 chewinks in the rice-fields. 



Two years ago I found a cowbird's egg in 

 the nest of a Maryland yellowthroat. This 

 nest was under a tussock of cut grass, just 

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