THE COW-BIRD 



"But I thought we agreed not to disturb her until she had 

 brooded at least a week," I objected. 



"Look!" said Bob, and kneeling, he bent back the wild plum 

 bushes and brought to light the daintiest of little grassy, moss- 

 covered cups. It contained only two of the beautiful Warbler 

 eggs that had been in it the day before, and two big eggs with a 

 white ground finely dotted with purple. 



"What does it mean?" questioned Bob in rank disgust. 



"Cow-birds," I answered. "When did you first notice this?" 



"Early this morning," replied Bob. "I heard the Warblers 

 fretting and went to see if a snake or squirrel was bothering them. 

 Two of their eggs were gone a"nd those two big speckled things in 

 their place. Make your study quickly if you want one, for I am 

 going to smash them." 



"Oh, no, you're not, Bob," I pleaded. "I wouldn't have you 

 touch that nest for a farm. Those Warblers just have begun 

 brooding and the Cow-birds have disturbed them all they will bear 

 already. We will slip away quietly and you guard that nest as 

 you never before guarded one. It is most uncommon for a Cow- 

 bird to leave two eggs in a nest, and if they hatch, with those tiny 

 Warblers, why then, we shall have a picture worth talking about." 



"But will the Warbler brood on them?" protested Bob. 



"Hasn't she been on them all day?" 



"All day," growled Bob, "and nothing but waiting for you 

 ever kept me from pitching them out. I don't see how a bird 

 almost as big as a Blackbird ever laid in that tiny nest, and what 

 became of the Warbler eggs?" 



"The Cow-bird ate them," I answered. "She disposed of one 

 each time she deposited one, though how she managed to drop an 

 egg in that nest without breaking the Warbler's is a mystery." 



"I easily can break hers, right now," volunteered Bob, with 



185 



