COWBIRD. 243 



obtrusive is the sad analogy ! She flies to some thicket, or hedge-row, or other common 

 resort of birds, where, something teaches her— perhaps experience— nests will be found. 

 Stealthily and in perfect silence she flits along, peering furtively, alternately elated or 

 dejected, into the depths of the foliage. She espies a nest, but the owner's head peeps 

 over the brim, and she must pass on. Now, however, comes the chance; there is the 

 very nest she wishes, and no one at home. She disappears for a few minutes, and it is 

 almost another bird that comes out of the bush. Her business done, and trouble over, 

 she chuckles her self-gratulations, rustles her plumage to adjust it trimly, and flies back 

 to her associates. They know what has happened, but are discreet enough to say 

 nothing— charity is often no less wise than kind." (Coues.) 



If we search closely we may find the parasite's egg in the nest of a Maryland 

 Yellowthroat, a Vireo, a Song Sparrow, a Yellow-breasted Chat, etc. The egg is always 

 deposited in nests from which the owners are absent. She never attempts to force 

 a bird from her nest. It is a rather peculiar fact that the always watchfiil birds, being 

 usually awrare of everything that is going on in their nesting range, are so quiet and 

 careless when the parasitic Qowbird is stealthily searching for a nest, and that they 

 apparently do not notice it when the strange bird has occupied the place in their domi- 

 cile. I have never heard that they even uttered a warning note, when the Cowbird was 

 sneaking around in the vicinity of their home, while their screaming and lamenting 

 seems to find no end when any other strange bird is approaching their nest too closely. 

 I am of the opinion that in many cases the Cowbird cannot inflict her eggs on other 

 birds entirely unnoticed. Exceedingly comical are the actions of the rightful owner when 

 returning to her nest. She discovers the ominous egg at once; half astonished, half 

 scared she utters her call-note and the male is on her side. Both are looking upon the 

 parasite's egg with amazement and hop about greatly excited, and apparently they do 

 not know what to say about the evidence of the Cowbird's unfriendly visit. At last 

 they become silent. The male begins to sing and the female occupies her place in the 

 nest. With this act the fate of her own brood is decided : the foster child will leave the 

 nest in the best condition, while her own children are doomed to an early death. 



"Such seems to be the fate," writes Major Charles Bendire, "of nearly all the young 

 \ which have the misfortune to be hatched with a Cowbird for a companion. I have yet 

 to see a nest containing young birds of both species more than a few days old ; by that 

 time the rightful offspring are either smothered or crowded out of the nest by their 

 stronger foster brother, or starved, and he then absorbs the entire attention of the 

 parents. Only in such cases where these are as large or larger than the imposter is there 

 any likelihood to be an occasional exception to this rule. It can readily be seen what 

 an immense amount of harm the Cowbird causes in the economy of Nature, granting that 

 only a single one of its eggs is hatched in a season; to accolnplish this a brood of 

 insectivorous and useful birds is almost invariably sacrificed for every Cowbird raised, 

 and they are certainly not diminishing in numbers. 



"While a few of the selected foster parents resent the addition of a parasitic %gg 

 in their nest, either by abandoning it entirely or by building a new one over it, and 

 occasionally even a third one, the majority do not appear to be much disturbed by such 

 an event, and after a short time go on as if nothing had happened. A few species, like 



