158 mr. w. h. hudson on the [Mar. 3, 



rally manifests no fear even at a large object. On thrusting my fingers 

 into any nest, I find the young birds, if still blind or but recently 

 hatched, will hold up and open their mouths expecting food ; but in 

 a very few days they learn to distinguish between their parents and 

 other objects approaching them, and to show alarm even when 

 not warned of danger. Consider the different behaviour of three 

 species that seldom or never warn their offspring of danger. The 

 young of Synallaxis spixii, though in a deep domed nest, will throw 

 itself to the ground, attempting thus to make its escape. The young 

 of Mimus patagonicus sits close and motionless with closed eyes 

 mimicking death. The young of our Dove, even before it is fledged, 

 will swell itself up and strike angrily at the intruder with beak and 

 wings ; and by making so brave a show of its inefficient weapons it 

 probably often saves itself from destruction. But any thing approach- 

 ing the young Molothrus is welcomed with fluttering wings and 

 clamorous cries, as if all creatures were expected to minister to its 

 necessities. 



December 24, 18/2. — To-day I found a young Molothrus in the 

 nest of Spermophila ornata ; he cried for food on seeing my hand 

 approach the nest ; I took him out and dropped him dowu, when, 

 finding himself on the ground, he immediately made off, half-flying. 

 After a hard chase I succeeded in recapturing him, and began to twirl 

 him about, making him scream so as to inform his foster-parents 

 of his situation ; for they were not by at the moment. I then put 

 him back in, or rather upon, the little cradle of a nest, and plucked 

 half a dozen large measure-worms from an adjacent twig. The worms 

 I handed to the bird as I drew them from the cases ; and with great 

 greediness he devoured them all, notwithstanding the ill-treatment he 

 had just received, and utterly disregarding the wild excited cries of 

 his foster-parents, just arrived and hovering within three or four feet 

 of the nest. 



Last summer (1871-2) I noticed a young M. bonariensis in a 

 stubble-field, perched on the top of a slender dry stalk ; as it was 

 clamouring at short intervals, I waited to see what bird would come 

 to it. It proved to be the diminutive Polioptila dumicola ; and I was 

 much amused to see the little thing fly directly to its great foster- 

 offspring and, alighting on its back, drop a worm into the upturned 

 open mouth. After remaining a moment on its singular perch the 

 Polioptila flew away, but in less than half a minute returned and 

 perched again on the young bird's back. I continued watching them 

 until the Molothrus flew off, but not before I had seen him feed seven 

 or eight times in the same manner. 



In the two foregoing anecdotes may be seen the peculiar habits 

 of the young M. bonariensis. As the nests in which it is hatched, 

 from those of the little Serpophaga and Wren to those of Mimus, 

 vary so much in size and materials, and are placed in such different 

 situations, the young M. bonariensis must have in most of them a 

 somewhat incongruous appearance. But in the habits of the young 

 bird is the greatest incongruity or inadaptation. When the nest is 

 in a close thicket or forest, though much too small for the bird, and 



