182 COW BUNTING. 



disappear. In some instances, indeed, they have been found on 

 the ground near, or below, the nest; but this is rarely the case. 



I have never known more than one egg of the Cow Bunting 

 dropped in the same nest. This egg is somewhat larger than 

 that of the Blue-bird, thickly sprinkled with grains of pale 

 brown on a dirty white ground. It is of a size proportionable 

 to that of the bird. 



So extraordinary and unaccountable is this habit, that I have 

 sometimes thought it might not be general among the whole of 

 this species in every situation ; that the extreme heat of our sum- 

 mers, though suitable enough for their young, might be too 

 much for the comfortable residence of the parents; that, there- 

 fore, in their way to the north, through our climate, they were 

 induced to secure suitable places for their progeny; and that in 

 the regions where they more generally pass the summer, they 

 might perhaps build nests for themselves, and rear their own 

 young, like every other species around them. On the other 

 hand, when I consider that many of them tarry here so late as 

 the middle of June, dropping their eggs, from time to time, in- 

 to every convenient receptacle; that in the states of Virginia, 

 Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, they uni- 

 formly retain the same habits; and, in short, that in all these 

 places I have never yet seen or heard of their nest; reasoning 

 from these facts, I think I may safely conclude, that they never 

 build one; and that in those remote northern regions their man- 

 ners are the same as we find them here. 



What reason Nature may have for this extraordinary deviation 

 from her general practice, is, I confess, altogether beyond my 

 comprehension. There is nothing singular to be observed in the 

 anatomical structure of the bird that would seem to prevent or 

 render it incapable of incubation. The extreme heat of our cli- 

 mate is probably one reason why in the months of July and Au- 

 gust they are rarely to be seen here. Yet we have many other 

 migratory birds that regularly pass through Pennsylvania to the 

 north, leaving a few residents behind them; who, without ex- 

 ception, build their own nests and rear their own young. This 



