COW BUNTING. 189 



" or the young of the Cow-pen finch, though doubtless there 

 " are some others. 



" What becomes of the eggs or young of the proprietor? 

 " This is the most interesting question that appertains to this 

 " subject. There must be some special law of nature which de- 

 termines that the young of the proprietors are never to be 

 " found tenants in common with the young Cow-bird. I shall 

 66 offer the result of my own experience on this point, and leave 

 " it to you and others better versed in the mysteries of nature 

 "than I am to draw your own conclusions. Whatever theory 

 " may be adopted the facts must remain the same. Having dis- 

 " covered a Sparrow's nest with five eggs, four and one, and 

 " the Sparrow sitting, I watched the nest daily. The egg of the 

 " Cow-bird occupied the centre, and those of the Sparrow were 

 " pushed a little up the sides of the nest. Five days after the 

 " discovery I perceived the shell of the Finch's egg broken, 

 " and the next the bird was hatched. The Sparrow returned 

 " while I was near the nest, with her mouth full of food with 

 " which she fed the young Cow-bird with every possible 

 " mark of affection, and discovered the usual concern at my 

 " approach. On the succeeding day only two of the Sparrow's 

 " eggs remained, and the next day there were none. I sought 

 "in vain for them on the ground and in every direction. 



" Having found the eggs of the Cow-bird in the nest of a Yel- 

 " low-throat, I repeated my observations. The process of incu- 

 bation had commenced, and on the seventh day from the dis- 

 "covery I found a young Cow-bird that had been hatched du- 

 " ring my absence of twenty-four hours, all the eggs of the 

 " proprietor remaining. I had not an opportunity of visiting 

 " the nest for three days, and on my return there was only one 

 " egg remaining, and that rotten. The Yellow-throat attended 

 " the young interloper with the same apparent care and affection 

 " as if it had been its own offspring. 



" The next year my first discovery was in a Blue-bird's nest 

 " built in a hollow stump. The nest contained six eggs, and the 

 " process of incubation was going on. Three or four days after 



