150 



COW BUNTING. 



they have been found on the ground near^ or below, the nest; but 

 this is rarely the case. 



I have never known more than one egg of the Cow Bunting 

 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 sum- 

 mers, tho suitable enough for their young, might be too much for 

 the comfortable residence of the parents ; that, therefore, in their 

 way to the north, thro 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 devia- 

 tion 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 ren- 

 der 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 thro Pennsylvania to the north, leaving 



