plumage birds is the indolent and apa- 

 thetic evening grosbeak. They don the 

 mature plumage the first year and main- 

 tain it winter and summer alike ; their 

 voices are harsh and unmusical, their 

 only efforts being a harsh screechy chirp 

 or a low nasal wrangle. They are un- 

 demonstrative save in opposition, when 

 they are most pugnacious, and their 

 whole lives show a selfishness and gen- 

 eral discontent with life which is strik- 

 ing and unique among Canadian birds. 



The indolent selfishness of the evening 

 grosbeak is of an entirely different char- 

 acter to the mean, low-lived selfishness 

 of the cowbird, for the evening gros- 

 beak, though seeming to find no pleasure 

 in life but feeding, has not become so 

 demoralized as to shirk the duties of 1 fe 

 or try to shoulder the responsibilities of 

 family raising upon other species. With 

 him morbidness seems to have blotted 

 out all the cheerful side of life and he 

 is more to be pitied than blamed. 



With the cowbird, however, the case 

 is different, because their indolence has 

 encouraged depravity of the most de- 

 spicable character. The depravity of a 

 father, while deplorable, is not as general- 

 ly injurious to the race where the faithful 

 mother is at hand to counteract it, but 

 where that mother becomes so depraved 

 as to desire to shirk the duties of nature 

 the demoralization is complete. In this 

 case the knowledge of right remains, 

 strange as it may appear, and each suc- 

 ceeding generation of cowbirds with a 

 full knowledge of their wrongdoing 

 continue to follow the inherited depraved 

 course, and nothing is more expressive 

 of conviction of shame than the sneak- 

 ing, skulking approach of the female 

 cowbird to the nest, always of a smaller 

 bird than herself, to deposit her eggs 

 during the absence of the owner, and 

 equally shamefaced is her slinking dis- 

 appearance after the act is committed or 

 upon the appearance of 'he owner of the 

 nest. The squalling, greedy nestling 

 which afterwards demands all the atten- 

 tion of the foster parents to the neglect 

 and frequently starvation of the right- 

 ful heirs, is a striking example of the 

 blubbering, bullying overgrown "booby," 

 whose mother declares she is unable to 

 control him. 



The cowbird, notwithstanding this de 

 pravity, has many redeeming character- 

 istics, and. if sufficiently strongly con- 

 victed of his demoralized social stand- 

 ing, could be made a good citizen of the 

 avian world, and a realization of this 

 fact almost forces me to exclaim, "Oh, 



for a Luther to regenerate the morals of 

 the cowbird." 



In striking contrast to the shame of 

 the cowbird at shirking her duties is the 

 pride of many feathered mothers of the 

 families they are raising. Note the 

 wood pewee and most of the flycatchers, 

 which bring the young all out and line 

 them up upon a branch or fence rail, 

 where they are taught their lessons in 

 fly catching, patience and good manners. 

 The observation of this performance is 

 very amusing as well as offering a strong 

 life lesson to many of us who need it. 



Many bird mothers are too proud of 

 their children, idolizing and spoiling 

 them by satisfying all their desires. Of 

 this class the young orioles, with their 

 whining " dee dee dee," are conspicuous 

 a? spoiled babies and manage to engage 

 the entire attention of both parents for 

 seme time after leaving the nest and do 

 not appear to be anxious to learn to 

 earn their own living. Another species 

 of this character is the goldfinch, a de- 

 voted mother, but all too indulgent. 



Some birds perform the duties of in- 

 cubation, but beyond feeding, exercise 

 no control over the young, and the 

 squalling rabble of the young blackbirds 

 is evidence of a coarse nature and gen- 

 eral disregard for property and good 

 manners. 



For sociability we have but to look 

 for a time at the swallows, the redpolls, 

 snowbirds or pine grosbeaks and we 

 will find not only sociability but con- 

 siderable affection and consideration for 

 one another. Even among large flocks 

 their associations are always cheerful. 



For sociability among different species 

 we can take a walk into the woods on a 

 winter's day, when the sun is bright, and 

 we will find usually white-breasted 

 nut-hatches, downy woodpeckers, chick- 

 adees and an occasional creeper or 

 kinglet, if it be not too cold, all travelling 

 about together in a merry party search- 

 ing for food and indulging in a cheery 

 conversation among themselves. 



If you wish diversity of character in 

 the individual you may consult either the 

 crow or the jay, and if the former can- 

 not satisfy you the latter most certainly 

 can. The brain development is phe- 

 nomenal in these birds both for propor- 

 tionate size and character. The cunning 

 of the crow is proverbial, but if ever 

 you lived with one and studied him one- 

 half as carefully as he studies you, you 

 will find a companionship congenial, in- 

 structive and amusing in the extreme. 

 If ever bird was endowed with reason 



