A SUCCESSFUL PRETENDER 107 
to all that loving care and sprightly industry were 
thrust aside , crowded , and crushed* The one 
ravenous gape was always open as the parents came 
again and again with caterpillars and other insects* 
The weaker nestlings were starved and crushed until 
they gave up the futile struggle* Then they were 
pushed out of the nest to drop unheeded to the ground* 
The big impostor grew till he lazily filled the nest, 
his portly body stolidly immovable, but his soft beak 
ever open for food* 
When he outgrew the nest and fluttered to an 
adjacent fence the Chippies were more pulled than 
proud over their strange, prodigious ward* He was 
so much bigger than themselves, so obviously able 
to care for himself, and yet so eager and importunate 
to be fed* He called to them, demanded of them, and 
followed them about whenever they made any lengthy 
excursion in search of the ever- wanted Caterpillars. 
His mother had left the indifferent flock only long 
enough to lay the egg in the Chippies' nest and 
return ; and now the young pretender has fastened 
himself on his little guardians, living upon their 
industry, though in every way able to support 
himself* He will never leave them till their deluded 
parental feelings are strained beyond endurance, and 
they refuse longer to submit to the imposition* Then 
he will assume the black plumage of his kind and 
take himself away to join the band of vagabonds to 
