COWBIRD. 281 



all family relations, keep roving about, enjoying themselves after 

 their own free-love fashion, with no preference for any locality save- 

 that where food is most easily obtained. The deportment of the male 

 at this season is most ludicrous. With the view of pleasing his 

 female associate of the hour, he puffs himself out to nearly double 

 his usual size, and makes the most violent contortions while seeking 

 to express his feelings in song, but like individuals of the human 

 species whom we sometimes meet, he is "tongue-tied," and can only 

 give utterance to a few spluttering notes. 



As the time for laying draws near, the female leaves her asso- 

 ciates, and, manifesting much uneasiness, seeks diligently for the nest 

 of another bird to suit her purpose. This is usually that of a bird 

 smaller than herself, which the owner has just finished and may have 

 made therein a first deposit. Into such a nest the female Cowbird 

 drops her egg, and leaving it, with evident feelings of satisfaction, 

 joins her comrades and thinks no more about the matter. By the 

 owners of the nest the intrusion is viewed with great dislike, and 

 should it contain no eggs of their own it is frequently deserted. But 

 another expedient to rid themselves of the incumbrance is sometimes 

 resorted to which shows a higher degree of intelligence than we are 

 accustomed to call ordinary instinct. Finding that their newly- 

 finished cradle has been invaded, the birds build a floor over the 

 obnoxious egg, leaving it to rot, while their own are hatched 011 the- 

 new floor in the usual way. 



Should the owners of the nest have one or more eggs deposited 

 before that of the Cowbird appears, the intrusion causes them much 

 anxiety for an hour or two, but in the majority of cases the situation 

 is accepted, and the young Cowbird being first hatched, the others 

 do not come to maturity. The foster-parents are most attentive in 

 supplying the wants of the youngster till he is fit to shift for himself, 

 when he leaves them, apparently without thanks, and seeks the 

 society of his own kindred, though how he recognizes them as such 

 is something we have yet to learn. 



Much speculation is indulged in regarding the cause of this appar- 

 ent irregularity in the habits of the Cowbird, and different opinions- 

 are still held regarding it, but whatever other purpose it may serve 

 in the economy of nature, it must cause a very large reduction in 

 the number of the different species of birds on which it entails the 

 care of its young. Some idea may be formed of the extent of this 

 reduction by looking at the vast flocks of Cowbirds swarming in 

 their favorite haunts in the fall, and considering that for each bird 



