COW TROOPIAL, OR COW BLACK-BIRD. 181 
greedy brood of our Cow-bird. When the female is dis- 
posed to lay, she appears restless and dejected, and sepa- 
rates from the unregarding flock. Stealing through the 
woods and thickets, she pries into the bushes and bram- 
bles for the nest that suits her, into which she darts, in 
the absence of its owner, and in a few minutes is seen 
to rise on the wing, cheerful and relieved from the anx- 
iety that oppressed her, and proceeds back to the flock, 
she had so reluctantly forsaken. If the egg be deposited 
in the nest alone, it is uniformly forsaken ; but if the nurs- 
ing parent have any of her own, she immediately begins 
to sit. The Hed-eyed Fly-catcher, in whose beautiful 
basket-like nests I have observed these eggs, proves a 
very affectionate and assiduous nurse to the uncouth 
foundling. In one of these I found an egg of each bird, 
and the hen already sitting.* I took her own egg and 
left the strange one ; she soon returned, and, as if sensi- 
ble of what had happened, looked with steadfast attention, 
and shifted the egg about, then sat upon it, but soon 
moved off, again renewed her observation, and it was a 
considerable time before she seemed willing to take her 
seat ; but at length I left her on the nest. Two or three 
days after, I found that she had relinquished her 
attention to the strange egg, and forsaken the premises. 
Another of these birds, however, forsook the nest on 
taking out the Cow-bird’s egg, although she had still 2 of 
her own left. The only example, perhaps, to the contrary 
of deserting the nest when solely occupied by the stray 
egg, is in the Blue-bird, who, attached strongly to the breed- 
ing places, in which it often continues for several years, 
has been known to lay, though with apparent reluctance, 
after the deposition of the Cow-bird’s egg. My friend, 
* I have observed this present season (1831) the hen sitting on 2 eggs, and one of 
the Cow-bird. 
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