ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 85 



phaga and Wren to those of the Mocking-bird, 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 appearance. 

 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 off- 

 spring 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 of a stalk or bush, 

 and there demanding food with frequent and impor- 

 tunate 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 Pipit (Anthus correndera). In December when 

 the Cachila Pipit rears its second brood, the common 

 and abundant Carrion Hawk also has young, and 

 feeds them almost exclusively on the young of various 

 species of small birds. At this season the Chimango 

 destroys great numbers of the young of the Pipit 



