185S. 



NEW ENGLAND J^ARMER. 



301 



Red-eyed Fly-catcher are white, with a few small 

 brown spots at the large end. We give these de- 

 scriptions, with the beautiful basket nest of the 

 Red-eye, containing the eggs of the duped owner 

 of it, and the solitary egg of the vagrant, on a ta- 

 ble before us, and we can but notice the great dif- 

 ference between them, both as to size, markings 

 and figure. The favorite nurse selected by the 

 parasite, is the Red-eyed Fly-catcher. But when 

 she is not to be found, she seeks the nest of the 

 White-eyed Fly-Catclier, Maryland Yellow Throat, 

 Indigo Bird, V'hipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, 

 Blue-eyed Yellow Warbler, Blue Grey Fly-catch- 

 er, Golden-crowned Thrush, W^ilson's Thrush 

 Blue Bird, and some others. The Cow-bird is 

 known by many names, such as the Cow- Trop- 

 ical, Cow-pen Bird, Cow Black-bird, Cow-pen 

 Bunting, and Cow-pen Finch. The Cow-bird 

 should not be confounded with the American Cuc- 

 koo, so called from its notes resembling the words 

 cow, cow. Tlie cuckoo builds a rude nest of its 

 own and lays f^ur or five greenish lilue eggs, which 

 it hatches, and rears its young with great care. — 

 The singular habits of the Cow-bird have for many 

 years attracted the notice of ornithologists. Mr. 

 Wilson.when speaking of the bird, remarks, "what 

 reason nature may have f )r this extraordinary de- 

 viation from her general practice is, I confess, al- 

 together beyond comprehension. There is noth- 

 ing singular to be observed in the anatomical 

 structure of the bird, that would seem to prevent 

 or render it incapable of incubation. Many con- 

 jectures, indeed, might be formed as to the proba- 

 ble cause, but all of them that have occurred to 

 me, are unsatisfactory and inconsistent. Future 

 and more numerous observations, made with care, 

 may throw more light on this matter; till then, 

 we can only rest satisfied with the reality of the 

 fact." These remarks were made by Mr. Wilson 

 in his Ornith(jlogy, more than forty years since, 

 and we are not aware that any more light upon 

 the subject of the strange habits of the Cow- bird, 

 has been elicited. 



Modern naturalists have recognized among some 

 animals, certain aberrant and mutilated forms, 

 and establish what they term the theory of degra- 

 dation. And for an example they give us the mis- 

 placement of parts such as are now exhibited in 

 the fish, known as the flounders, turbot and hali- 

 but. These are supposed to have once moved 

 about upright, like other fishes, but from some 

 cause or other, a long time ago, they were thrown 

 over, and made to swim upon their sides, their 

 squinting eyes stuck upon the top of their heads, 

 and their mouths twisted awry. The Scriptures 

 teach us also, that man himself is in a state of 

 moi-al degradation, and his affections misplaced. — 

 But we are precluded from supposing that the 

 Cow-bird has, at any period, suffered from degra- 

 dation or misplacement of its parts, thereby ren- 

 dering it incapable of incubation ; from the fact, 

 that upon dissecting it, no disarrangement has as 

 yet been found. We think it is evident, that the 

 Cow-bird's unnatural habits are such as were 

 given it, by the Author of its being, and are not 

 the result of degradation, or mutilated forms, or 

 a vice of habit. This to my mind is very evident, 

 when we consider the singular fact, that when 

 its solitary egg is deposited, with those of the 

 duped nurse, in the same nest, the parasite's egg 

 invariably hatches from twenty-four to forty-eight 



hours before those of the foster parent. Here 

 we find a special provision made in favor of the 

 Cow-bird, on which depends the continuation of the 

 species. By consulting the early writers on our 

 ornithology, we learn tliat its vagrant habits have 

 not changed during a period of more than one 

 hundred years. 



We will close this article by observing that the 

 Cow-birds are thought by ornithologists to be re- 

 lated to the Red-winged Blackbirds, certainly as 

 near as cousins, with whom they are often seen 

 associated, but are much less inclined to injure the 

 crops of the fariuer, and feed more upon insects 

 than their namesakes, the Red-wings, s. P. f. 



Danversport, March 1, 1853. 



[to be continued] 



RIDGING— DRAINING. 



"Stagnant water," says Loudon, "may be con- 

 sidered to be injurious to all the useful classes of 

 plants, by obstructing perspiration and intro-sus- 

 ception, and thus diseasing their roots and sub- 

 merged parts. Where the surface soil is properly 

 constituted, and rests on a subsoil moderately po- 

 rous, both will hold water by capillary attraction, 

 and what is not so retained, will sink into the in- 

 terior strata, by its gravity ; but where the sub- 

 soil is retentive, it will resist, or not admit, with 

 sufficient rapidity, the percolation of water -to the 

 strata below, and which, accumulating in the sur- 

 face soil, till its proportion becomes excessive in 

 a component part, not only carries off the extrac- 

 tive matter (the food of plants,) but diseases the 

 plants themselves. Hence the origin of surface 

 draining, that is, laying lands in ridges or beds, 

 or intersecting it with small open gutters." 



The reader will perceive at once from the fore- 

 going, that the propriety or impropriety of adopt- 

 ing this method of amelioration, will depend upon 

 a variety of circumstances, Avhich may vary, and 

 indeed do vary, in every district, and on almost 

 every farm. General rules cannot, of course, be 

 expected ; as a course of procedure which might 

 be perfectly beneficial on an undulating and warm 

 surface, in one locality, would be highly prejudicial 

 in another. Where the soil is of a cold or humid 

 character, or where the surface is of a more por- 

 ous or friable texture, but reposes on a substratum 

 of a compact and tenacious formation, the adop- 

 tion of this system of drainage cannot be other- 

 wise than beneficial. But in all cases where the 

 subsoil is open and porous, as in the case of grav- 

 elly substrata, and where, consequently, the su- 

 perabundant moisture or water encounters few or 

 no obstacles in its descent, but is permitted freely 

 to percolate and pass off, throwing the surfiice in- 

 to ridges, as is the proper course under an oppo- 

 site modification of physical circumstances, is by 

 no means advisable, as it is calculated to produce 

 far greater harm than good. As to ridges, when 

 necessary, the fi)llowing rules maybe observed: — 



1. Ridges should be laid with the slope of the 



