34 



MY STUDIO NEIGHBORS 



The egg is always laid betimes, 

 and is usually the first to hatch, 

 the period of incubation be- 

 ine a day or two less than 

 that of the eggs of the - '-i' 



foster-parent. And woe 

 be to the tledglings 



whom fate has as- 

 sociated with a 

 young cow -bird! 

 He is the " early bird that 

 gets the worm." His is 

 the clamorins: red mouth which 

 takes the provender of the en- 

 ' tire family. It is all "grist into 

 his mill," and everything he eats 

 seems to go to appetite — his bedfellows, if not 

 thus starved to death, being at length crushed 

 by his comparatively ponderous bulk, or ejected 



