12 SHARP EYES. 



long blue pin-feathers as long as darning-needles, 

 without a bit of plumage on them. They part on the 

 back and hang down on each side by their own weight 

 With its curious feathers and misshapen body the 

 young bird is anything but handsome. They never 

 open their mouths when approached, as many young 

 birds do, but sit perfectly still, hardly moving whea 

 touched." He also notes the unnatural indifference 

 of the mother-bird when her nest and young are ap- 

 proached. She makes no sound, but sits quietly on a 

 near branch in apparent perfect unconcern. 



These observations, together with the fact that the 

 egg of the cuckoo is occasionally found in the nests of 

 other birds, raise the inquiry whether our bird is 

 slowly relapsing into the habit of the European spe- 

 cies, which always foists its egg upon other birds ; or 

 whether, on the other hand, it is not mending its 

 manners in this respect. It has but little to unlearn 

 or to forget in the one case, but great progress to make 

 in the other. How far is its rudimentary nest — a 

 mere platform of coarse twigs and dry stalks of weeds 

 — from the deep, compact, finely woven and finely 

 modeled nest of the goldfinch or king-bird, and what 

 a gulf between its indifference toward its young and 

 their solicitude ! Its irregular manner of laying also 

 seems better suited to a parasite like our cow-bird, or 

 the European cuckoo, than to a regular nest-builder. 



This observer, like most sharp-eyed persons, sees 

 plenty of interesting things as he goes about his work. 

 He one day saw a white swallow, which is of rare 

 occurrence. He saw a bird, a sparrow he thinks, fly 

 against the side of a horse and fill his beak with hair 

 from the loosened coat of the animal. He saw a 

 shrike pursue a chickadee, when the latter escaped by 



