WHAT I HAVE DONE WITH BIRDS 



THE PAIR OF YOUNG VIREOS 



These questions soon were settled. All four of the eggs 

 hatched, and although the Warbler babies should have been out 

 first, we were amazed to see the Cow-birds emerge the same day, 

 thereby clearly proving that they required several days' shorter 

 incubation than the young among which they were placed. The 

 Cow-birds were three times the size of the Warblers in the begin- 

 ning and filled the nest. They crowded from the first. Scarcely 

 was their down dry until they lifted sturdy big heads, opened 

 cavernous mouths and the clamor for food began. 



The tiny specks of bugs and worms that the Warblers were 

 able to collect made little impression on their ravenous appetites. 

 All day their heads were up and their mouths wide open. All day 

 those little Warbler parents darted hither and thither, nervously 

 searching for food to satisfy the greed of the foster children 

 thrust so unceremoniously upon them, and if their own succeeded 

 in securing a tiny morsel, really it was by accident, for they were 



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