BIRDS THAT PREY AND SOME THAT DO NOT 505 



to detect the difference between their own little 

 fragile, prettily marked, greenish-colored eggs and 

 the great dark-colored ones the vagabond cow 

 blackbird has 



SURREPTITIOUSLY SMUGGLED INTO THE COZY 

 NEST. 



The domestic little couple cling to the spot selected 

 for their house and will not leave it, neither will 

 they hatch the obnoxious eggs, which they are ap- 

 parently unable to throw out; but the difficulty is 

 soon surmounted, and so are the gratuitous eggs, 

 for the indefatigable workers proceed at once to 

 cover up the cow blackbird's eggs, constructing 



A NEW NEST ON TOP OF THE OLD ONE, 



building a second story, as it were, to their house. 

 One of these two-story nests found in Flushing, 

 Long Island, contained two cow blackbird's eggs 

 in the bottom compartment, and in the upper one 

 three eggs of the summer yellowbird. Mr. Lang- 

 don Gibson watched the construction of the nest. 

 Visiting it again after it was finished, he discovered 

 the egg of a cow blackbird. Next day two of these 

 eggs occupied the same nest. Some time after- 

 ward, to his surprise, he found the nest contained 

 three eggs of the yellowbird and no signs of the 

 existence of those deposited by the blackbird, but 

 the nest had the appearance of being much taller 

 than at first, and an examination disclosed the true 

 facts of the case. 



