SCREAMING COW-BIRD 103 



the nest, to my great disappointment they did not 

 lay in it. 



April 12. To-day I have made a discovery, and 

 am as pleased as if I had found a new planet in the 

 sky. The mystery of the Bay-wings' nest twice 

 found containing over the usual complement of eggs 

 is cleared up, and I have now suddenly become 

 acquainted with the procreant instinct of the Scream- 

 ing Cow-bird. I look on this as a great piece of good 

 fortune ; for I had thought that the season for 

 making any such discovery was already over, as we 

 are so near to winter. 



The Bay-wings are so social in their habits that 

 they always appear reluctant to break up their com- 

 panies in the breeding-season ; no sooner is this 

 over, and while the young birds are still fed by the 

 parents, all the families about a plantation unite into 

 one flock. About a month ago all the birds about 

 my home had associated in this way together, and 

 went in a scattered flock, frequenting one favourite 

 feeding-spot very much, a meadow about fifteen 

 minutes' walk from the house. The flock was com- 

 posed, I believe, of three families, sixteen or eighteen 

 birds in all : the young birds are indistinguishable 

 from the adults ; but I knew that most of these birds 

 were young, hatched late in the season, from their 

 incessant strident hunger notes. I first observed 

 them about the middle of March. A week ago, while 

 riding past the meadow where they were feeding, I 

 noticed among them three individuals with purple 

 spots on their plumage. They were at a distance 



