COW BUN TING. 29 1 



dropped in the same nest. This egg is somewhat larger than 

 that of the blue bird, thickly sprinkled with grains of pale 

 brown on a dirty white ground. It is of a size proportionable 

 to that of the bird. 



So extraordinary and unaccountable is this habit, that I 

 have sometimes thought it might not be general among the 

 whole of this species in every situation ; that the extreme heat 

 of our summers, though suitable enough for their young, might 

 be too much for the comfortable residence of the parents ; that, 

 therefore, in their way to the north through our climate, they 

 were induced to secure suitable places for their progeny ; and 

 that in the regions where they more generally pass the summer, 

 they might perhaps build nests for themselves, and rear their 

 own young, like every other species around them. On the 

 other hand, when I consider that many of them tarry here so 

 late as the middle of June, dropping their eggs, from time to 

 time, into every convenient receptacle — that in the States of 

 Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 

 they uniformly retain the same habits — and, in short, that in 

 all these places I have never yet seen or heard of their nest, — 

 reasoning from these facts, I think I may safely conclude that 

 they never build one, and that in those remote northern regions 

 their manners are the same as we find them here. 



What reason Nature may have for this extraordinary 

 deviation from her general practice, is, I confess, altogether 

 beyond my comprehension. There is nothing singular to be 

 observed in the anatomical structure of the bird that would 

 seem to prevent or render it incapable of incubation. The 

 extreme heat of our climate is probably one reason why, in 

 the months of July and August, they are rarely to be seen 

 here. Yet we have many other migratory birds that regularly 

 pass through Pennsylvania to the north, leaving a few resi- 

 dents behind them, who, without exception, build their own 

 nests and rear their own young. This part of the country 

 also abounds with suitable food, such as they usually subsist 

 on. Many conjectures indeed might be formed as to the pro- 



