l8o IN BIRD LAND. 



young orchard orioles and one cow-bunting. One 

 day I procured a step-ladder and climbed up to the 

 nest, when the bunting sprang out with a wild cry 

 and toppled to the ground, while the young orioles, 

 not yet half-fledged, merely pried open their mouths 

 for food. Yet these birds, when grown, are fully as 

 dexterous on the wing as their foster relatives, the 

 buntings. 



During the same spring some observations on 

 youthful blackbirds were made. They may be of 

 sufficient interest to register in this place. Did you 

 know that a part of the heads of infant blackbirds 

 remains bare a week or two after the other por- 

 tions of their bodies are well feathered? This is 

 true of the three species of my acquaintance, — 

 the purple grackles, the red-winged blackbirds, and 

 the cow-buntings. The bald portion includes the 

 forehead, part of the crown, the chin, and throat, 

 and extends behind and below the ears, which are 

 covered with a tiny tuft of fuzz. Had this unfeathered 

 portion been red instead of black, the youngsters 

 would have looked quite like diminutive turkey- 

 buzzards. One may be pardoned for being some- 

 what puzzled over the childish conundrum. Why 

 young blackbirds, of all the birds in the circle of 

 one's acquaintance, must go bareheaded during the 

 first few weeks of their life. By and by, however, 

 the feathers grow out on this space as thickly as on 

 the remainder of their bodies. 



Strange that I have found so few black-capped 

 titmice's nests, familiar and abundant as they are 



