44*1 HABITS OF THE GOW BIED. 



foisted invariably takes charge of it in preference to its own offspring, and will always 

 rear the young Cow Bird, even though the whole of its own offspring perish. 



There seems to be in the Cow Bird an irresistible attractive power, forcing other birds 

 to take charge of it and attend to its wants. This supposition is strengthened by the 

 conduct of a cardinal grosbeak, kept by Wilson, into whose cage was introduced a young 

 Cow Bird just taken out of the nest of a Maryland yellow throat. At first, the grosbeak 

 examined the intruder with some reserve, but as soon as the stranger began to cry for food, 

 the grosbeak took it under its protection, tended it carefully, brought it food, tore large 

 insects to pieces in order to suit the capacity of the young bird's mouth, cleaned its 

 plumage, taught it to feed itself, and exhibited towards it all a mother's care. 



Several species of the smaller birds are especially selected by the Cow Troopial for 

 the purpose of acting as foster parents towards its young. Among these the favourites 

 are the Maryland yellow-throat, the red-eyed flycatcher, the white-eyed flycatcher, the 

 blue-grey flycatcher, the blue-bird, the chipping sparrow, and the golden-crowned thrush. 

 Why these birds should be thus distinguished is not easy to determine, for they are of 

 very different sizes, and build very different nests ; some making their home in the fork 

 of a branch, some on the ground, and others building a regular pensile nest suspended to 

 the end of a slender twig. Tlie character of this bird and its curious habits have been 

 admirably worked out by Dr. Potter, who communicates his information to Mr. Wilson in 

 the following words : — 



" That the ' fringilla ' never builds a nest for itself you may assert without the hazard of 

 a refutation. I once offered a guinea for the nest, and the negroes in the neighbourhood 

 brought me a variety of nests, but they were always traced to some other bird. The time 

 of depositing the eggs is from the middle of April to the last of May, or nearly so, 

 corresponding with the season of laying observed by the small birds on whose i^roperty it 

 encroaches. It never deposits but one egg in the same nest, and this is generally after 

 the rightful tenant begins to deposit hers, but never, I believe, after she has commenced 

 the process of incubation. It is impossible to say how many they lay in a season unless 

 they could be hatched when confined in an aviary. 



By a minute attention to a number of these birds when they feed in a particular 

 field in the laying season, the deportment of the female when the time of laying draws 

 near becomes particularly interesting. She deserts her associates, assumes a drooping, 

 sickly aspect, and perches upon some eminence where she can reconnoitre the operations 

 of other birds in the process of nidification. If a discovery suitable to her purpose 

 cannot be made from her stand, she becomes more restless, and is seen flitting from tree 

 to tree till a place of deposit can be found. 



I once had an opportunity of witnessing a scene of this sort which I cannot forbear 

 to relate. Seeing a female prying into a bunch of bushes in search of a nest, I 

 determined to see the result if practicable, and knowing how easily they are disconcerted 

 by the near approach of man, I mounted my horse and proceeded slowly ; sometimes 

 seeing and sometimes losing sight of her, till I had travelled nearly two miles along the 

 margin of the creek. She entered every thick place, prying with the strictest scrutiny 

 into places where the small birds usually build, and at last darted suddenly into a thick 

 copse of alders and briars, where she remained five or six minutes, when she returned, 

 soaring above the underwood, and returned to the company she had left feeding in the 

 field. Upon entering the covert I found the nest of a yellow-throat with an egg of each. 

 Knowing the precise time of deposit, I noticed the spot and date, with a view of 

 determining a question of importance — the time required to hatch the egg of the Cow 

 Bird, which I supposed to commence from the time of the yellow-throat laying the last 

 egg. A few days after the nest was removed, I know not how, and I was disappointed. 



In the p)rogress of the Cow Bird along the creek's side, she entered the thick boughs of 

 a small cedar, and returned several times before she could prevail upon herself to quit the 

 place, and upon examination I found a sparrow sitting on its nest, on which she no doubt 

 would have stolen in the absence of the owner. It is, I believe, certain that the Cow 

 Troopial never makes a forcible entry upon the premises by attacking other birds and 



