-35- 



termined pair, perhaps from former years of 

 experience, beg^aii a second time to evade the 

 work of the spoliators, and entombed their 

 own two eg"g-s with the unsoug^ht additions. 

 When discovered, their work of love had ad- 

 vanced to the stag-e where the remainder of 

 the set, three eg-gs, reposed safely in the 

 third, or upper story. The nests containing- 

 two and three stories are more common than 

 is g-enerally supposed, but are not discovered 

 as the fact is not recog-nized unless a careful 

 examination is made by the observer. 



This trait, more noticeable in the yellow 

 warbler, shows reasoning of a marked de- 

 g-ree, and eminently worthy of our attention, 

 and g-ives undisputed proof of thoug-ht. 

 There are other birds which attempt to save 

 themselves from the encroachments of these 

 spoliators but very few that are as successful 

 as the little warbler. I have found several 

 nests of the Red-eyed vireo which held a Cow- 

 bird's egg partially covered with the nest 

 bottom, but as a rule the imposed-on owners 

 accept the charge and hatch the whole brood 

 and take good care of the foundlings. It has 

 even been proven in the case of those little 

 birds that they lay smaller eggs than the im- 

 poster's, that the young aliens thrive best by 

 right of size, and secure more food to the det- 



