THE CUCKOOS AND THE OUTWITTED COW-BIRD 39 



derstand it. Such is the inevitable, somewhat 

 penitent conclusion which I always arrive at on 

 the cow-bird question ; and yet my next cow-bird 

 fledgling will doubtless follow the fate of all 

 its predecessors, the reminiscent qualms of con- 

 science finding a ready philosophy equal to the 

 emergency ; for if, indeed, this parasite of the 

 bird home be a factor in the divine plan of Nat- 

 ure's equilibrium, looking towards the survival of 

 the fittest and the regulation of the sparrow and 

 small-bird population, which we must admit, how 

 am I to know but that this righteous impulse of 

 the human animal is not equally a divine, as it is 

 certainly a natural institution looking to the lim- 

 itations of the cow-bird? One June morning, a 

 year or two ago, I heard a loud squeaking, as of a 

 young bird in the grass near my door, and, on ap- 

 proaching, discovered the spectacle of a cow-bird, 

 almost full-fledged, being fed by its foster-mother, 

 a chippy not more than half its size, and which 

 was obliged to stand on tiptoe to cram the gullet 

 of the parasite. 



The victims of the cow-bird are usually, as in 

 this instance, birds of much smaller size, the fly- 

 catchers, the sparrows, warblers, and vireos, though 

 she occasionally imposes on larger species, such 

 as the orioles and the thrushes. The following 



