THE COW BLACKBIRD. 101 



tedious confinement and exhaustion of incubation; thus 

 charming the ear with an entertainment which might delight 

 the very highest intelligences, and so beguiling the weary- 

 hours. Behold that male Bluebird feeding the female in the 

 most kindly manner, or the Rose-breasted Grosbeak taking 

 apparently the greater part of the burden of incubation 

 upon himself ! How disconsolate is that House Wren 

 whose mate the cat has killed ! Listen to the sad meanings 

 of that Mourning Dove bereft of his mate ! I have some- 

 times pointed the newly-married couple to the birds as being 

 the best guide to domestic felicity. 



And has the reader ever noticed the melancholy arts of a 

 female bird, when startled from her eggs, as she hobbles 

 and flutters along the ground feigning broken legs and 

 wings ? Has he ever seen the distress of the mother Part- 

 ridge at the alarm of her young brood ? Giving them the 

 well-understood signal to hide themselves, she tumbles 

 about and moans, as if in the last agonies of death, and will 

 even allow herself to be touched by the hand in order to 

 decoy the intruder; and when danger seems over, listen to 

 her pathetic maternal call, which again brings the tender 

 younglings under her wings ! Neither father nor mother of 

 the human species could feed and protect a helpless family 

 with more self-sacrificing industry than is universally com- 

 mon to the parent birds. Audubon tells us how the heart 

 of a pirate was once softened while listening to the tender 

 cooings of the Zenaida Doves in the breeding season on 

 one of the Florida Keys. Dropping on his knees upon 

 the burning sand, he penitently besought heaven for mercy, 

 and, at the peril of his life, forsook his murderous crew, 

 and joined his formerly abandoned family. 



In the case, however, of the Cow Blackbird (Molothrus 

 pecoris) of America, and the Cuckoo of Europe, two birds 

 11 



