828 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Naturally, one would expect to find some other eccentricities in 

 this aberrant family besides that of parasitism, and in this expecta- 

 tion one is not disappointed. There are two other species of cow- 

 birds in the Argentine country the screaming cowbird (Molothrus 

 rufoaxillaris) and the bay- winged cowbird (Molothrus badius). The 

 latter is only partly a trencher on the rights of other birds that 

 is, it is only half a parasite. Indeed, it sometimes builds its own 

 nest, which is quite a respectable affair; but, as if to prove that it 

 still has some remnants of cowbird depravity in its nature, it fre- 

 quently drives other birds from their rightful possessions, appro- 

 priates the quarters thus acquired, lays its eggs into them, and pro- 

 ceeds to the performance of its domestic duties like its respectable 

 neighbors. Its virtue is that it never imposes the work of incuba- 

 tion and brood rearing on any of its feathered associates, even 

 though it does sometimes eject them from their premises. 



But what is to be said of the screaming cowbird? Instead of 

 inflicting its eggs on its more distant avian relatives it watches its 

 chance and slyly drops them into the domicile of its bay-winged 

 cousins, and actually makes them hatch and rear its offspring ! This 

 seems to be carrying imposture to the extreme of refinement, or 

 possibly developing it into a fine art, and reminds one of those hu- 

 man good-for-naughts who " sponge " off their relatives rather than 

 go among strangers. One can scarcely refrain from wondering 

 whether grave questions of pauperism and shiftlessness ever enter 

 into the discussion of " the social problem " in the bird community. 



THE COLUMBUS MEETING OF THE AMEBICAN 

 ASSOCIATION. 



BY PBOF. .D. S. MAETIN. 



f I^HE Columbus meeting of the American Association for the 

 *- Advancement of Science was looked forward to with con- 

 siderable interest as the first in the new half century of that body. 

 Would the impression and stimulus of the great semicentennial 

 gathering at Boston last year be found to continue, or be fol- 

 lowed by a reaction? The meetings west of the Alleghanies are 

 always smaller than the eastern ones, and the brilliancy of the 

 Boston meeting could not be looked for in any interior city. The 

 general expectation was for an " off-year " gathering. 



But only in point of attendance was this impression verified. 

 The register of those present showed three hundred and fifty- 

 three names a good number for an interior meeting, very few 



