300 



COW BUNTING. 



blue bird's nest in trie hollow stump, the cavity was a foot 

 deep, the nest at the bottom, and the ascent perpendicular ; 

 nevertheless the eggs were removed, although filled with 

 young ones; moreover, a young cowpen finch is as helpless 

 as any other young bird, and, so far from having the power 

 of ejecting others from the nest, or even the eggs, that they 

 are sometimes found on the ground under the nest, especially 

 when the nest happens to be very small. I will not assert 

 that the eggs of the builder of the nest are never hatched ; 

 but I can assert that I have never been able to find one 

 instance to prove the affirmative. If all the eggs of both 

 birds were to be hatched, in some cases the nest would not 

 hold half of them; for instance, those of the sparrow or 

 yellow bird. I will not assert that the supposititious egg is 

 brought to perfection in less time than those of the bird to 

 which the nest belongs ; but, from the facts stated, I am 

 inclined to adopt such an opinion. How are the eggs 

 removed after the accouchement of the spurious occupant? 

 By the proprietor of the nest unquestionably ; for this is 

 consistent with the rest of her economy. After the power of 

 hatching them is taken away by her attention to the young 

 stranger, the eggs would be only an encumbrance, and there- 

 fore instinct prompts her to remove them. I might add, 

 that I have sometimes found the eggs of the sparrow, in 

 which were unmatured young ones, lying near the nest 

 containing a cow bird, and therefore I cannot resist this 

 conclusion. Would the foster parent feed two species of young 

 at the same time? I believe not. I have never seen an 

 instance of any bird feeding the } r oung of another, unless imme- 

 diately after losing her own. I should think the sooty looking 

 stranger would scarcely interest a mother while the cries of her 

 own offspring, always intelligible, were to be heard. Should 

 such a competition ever take place, I judge the stranger would 

 be the sufferer, and prohably the species soon become extinct. 

 Why the lex naturce conservatrix should decide in favour of 

 the surreptitious progeny is not for me to determine. 



