80 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



bers as the millionaires of to-day grow in wealth, only 

 at the expense of their weaker brethren. 



But one or rather two cow-birds' eggs laid last 

 season did not hatch, and it was of them that I started 

 to write. On the 22nd of April, while out for a walk, 

 I discovered a pair of gnat-catchers building about 

 thirty feet from the ground, in a maple tree. A week 

 later, on passing near the spot, I saw that the nest 

 had assumed massive proportions for one of that 

 species, and on climbing up to investigate, found that 

 it contained a single cow-bird's egg. The owners, 

 however, had not deserted it, for they soon appeared, 

 circling rapidly around, and uttering their shrill cries 

 of distress. I left them immediately, merely suppos- 

 ing that they were young birds, not fully up to the 

 times in nest building, and therefore had formed a 

 large, loosely-constructed nest, instead of a small com- 

 pact one, as is usually the case. 



On the 5th of May I again visited the tree, and 

 found that the birds had abandoned the nest without 

 laying in it, and were building a new one in the top 

 of a tall oak a short distance away. Removing the 

 old nest carefully, I carried it home in order to com- 

 pare more closely its size with the one taken a few 

 days before. On measuring it carefully I found its 

 circumference to be 9J inches ; its length, 4| inches ; 

 and its weight 12 grams, or about 3 J times that of the 

 one first taken. Judge of my surprise when, on ex- 

 amining it thoroughly, I found that it was a double 

 nest, or rather a "two story" one. The lower part, 

 or first floor, was neatly and closely built, and in it 

 found a second cow- bird's egg. It had evidently 



