I 



154 COW BUNTING. 



" procatecl accordingly, without exciting either resentment or jea- 

 " lousy in any of the party. This want of sexual attachment is not 

 " inconsistent with the general economy of this singular bird; for 

 " as they are neither their own architect, nor nurse of their own 

 " young, the degree of attachment that governs others woaid be 

 " superfluous. 



" That the Fringilla never builds a nest for itself you may 

 " assert without the hazard of a refutation. I once offered a pre- 

 " miiim for the nest, and the negroes in the neighbourhood brought 

 " me a variety of nests, but they were always traced to some other 

 " bird. The time of depositing their eggs is from the middle of 

 " April to the last of May, or nearly so ; corresponding with the 

 " season of laying observed by the small birds on whose property 

 " it encroaches. It never deposits but one egg in the same nest, 

 " and this is generally after the rightful tenant begins to deposit 

 " hers, but never I believe after she has commenced the process of 

 " incubation. It is impossible to say how many they lay in a sea- 

 " son, unless they could be watched when confined in an aviary. 



" By a minute attention to a number of these birds when they 

 " feed in a particular field in the laying season, the deportment of 

 " the female, when the time of laying draws near, becomes parti- 

 " cularly interesting. She deserts her associates, assumes a droop- 

 " ing sickly aspect, and perches upon some eminence where she 

 " can reconnoitre the operations of other birds in the process of 

 " nidification. If a discovery suitable to her purpose cannot be 

 " made from her stand, she becomes more restless, and is seen flit- 

 ^' ting from tree to tree till a place of deposit can be found. I 

 " once had an opportunity of witnessing a scene of this sort which 

 " I cannot forbear to relate. Seeing a female prying into a bunch 

 " of bushes in search of a nest, I determined to see the result, if 

 " practicable ; and knowing how easily they are disconcerted by 

 " the near approach of man, I mounted my horse, and proceeded 

 slowly, sometimes seeing and sometimes losing sight of her, till 



