80 ICTERID^l. 



on the ground, he immediately made off, half-flying. After a hard 

 chase T succeeded in recapturing him, and began to twirl him about, 

 making him scream, so as to inform his foster-parents of his situation, 

 for they were not by at the moment. I then put him back in, or rather 

 upon, the little cradle of a nest, and plucked half-a-dozen large measure- 

 worms from an adjacent twig. The worms I handed to the bird as I 

 drew them from the cases, and with great greediness he devoured them 

 all, notwithstanding the ill-treatment he had just received, and utterly 

 disregarding the wild excited cries of his foster-parents, just arrived 

 and hovering within three or four feet of the nest. 



Last summer I noticed a young Cow-bird in a stubble-field, perched 

 on the top of a slender dry stalk ; as it was clamouring at short 

 intervals, I waited to see what bird would come to it. It proved to be 

 the diminutive Hapalocercus flaviventris ; and I was much amused to 

 see the little thing fly directly to its large foster-offspring and, alighting 

 on its back, drop a worm into the upturned open mouth. After re- 

 maining a moment on its singular perch, the Flycatcher flew away, but 

 in less than half a minute returned and perched again on the young 

 bird's back. I continued watching them until the Molothrus flew off, 

 but not before I had seen him fed seven or eight times in the same 

 manner. 



In the two foregoing anecdotes may be seen the peculiar habits of 

 the young Molothrus. As the nests in which it is hatched, from those 

 of the little Serpophaga and Wren to those of Mimus, vary so much in 

 size and materials, and are placed in such different situations, the young 

 Molothrus must have in most of them a somewhat incongruous appear- 

 ance. But in the habits of the young bird is the greatest incongruity 

 or inadaptation. When the nest is in a close thicket or forest, though 

 much too small for the bird, and although the bird itself cannot under- 

 stand its foster-parents, and welcomes all things that, whether with 

 good or evil design, come near it, the unfitness is not so apparent as 

 when the nest is in open fields and plains. 



The young Molothrus differs from the true offspring of its foster- 

 parents in its habit of quitting the nest as soon as it is able, trying to 

 follow the old bird, and placing itself in the most conspicuous place it 

 can find, such as the summit pf a stalk or weed, and there demanding 

 food with frequent and importunate cries. Thus the little Flycatcher 

 had acquired the habit of perching on the back of its charge to feed it, 

 because parent birds invariably perch above their young to feed them, 

 and the young Cow-bird prevented this by always sitting on the summit 

 of the stalk it perched on. The habit is most fatal on the open and 

 closely cropped pampas inhabited by the Cachila (Anthus correndera). 



