76 Bird Comrades 



seen two cowbirds fighting a duel like the orioles, meadow- 

 larks, and robins? 



In obtruding her eggs into the nests of other birds, 

 Madame Cowbird is sly and stealthy. She does not 

 drive the rightful owners from their nests, but simply 

 watches her opportunity to drop her eggs into them when 

 they are unguarded. t No doubt she has been on the alert 

 while her industrious neighbors have been constructing 

 their domiciles, and knows where almost every nest in 

 the vicinity is hidden. Says Major Charles Bendire: 

 " In rare instances only will a fresh cowbird's egg be 

 found among incubated ones of the rightful owners. I 

 have observed this only on a single occasion." From one 

 to seven eggs of the parasite are found in the nests of 

 the dupes. In most cases the number is two, but in the 

 case of ground builders the cowbird seems to have little 

 fear of overdoing her imposition. Major Bendire says 

 that he once found the nest of an oven-bird containing 

 seven cowbird's eggs and only one of the little owner's. 



If parasitism were the only crime of the cowbird one 

 would not feel so much disposed to put her into the 

 Newgate Calendar ; but she not only inflicts her own eggs 

 upon her innocent victims, but often actually tosses their 

 eggs out of the nests in order to make room for her own. 

 Nor is that all; she will sometimes puncture the eggs of 

 the owners to prevent their hatching, and thus increase the 

 chances of her own offspring. Whether this is done with 

 her beak or her claws is still an open question, Major Ben- 

 dire inclining to the belief that it is done with the claws. 



