182 
COW BUNTING. 
disappear. In some instances, indeed, they have been found on 
the ground near, or helow, 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, though suitable enough for their young, might be too 
much for the comfortable residence of the parents; that, there- 
fore, in their way to the noi’th, 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, in- 
to every convenient receptacle; that in the states of Virginia, 
Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, they uni- 
formly 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 man- 
ners 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 cli- 
mate is probably one reason why in the months of July and Au- 
gust 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 residents behind them; who, without ex- 
ception, build their own nests and rear their own young. This 
