COW BUNTING. 
213 
complaints for ten or fifteen minutes. The male then 
darted away to the neighbouring trees, as if in quest 
of the offender, and fell upon a cat-bird, which he 
chastised severely, and then returned to an innocent 
sparrow that was chanting its ditty in a peach tree. 
Notwithstanding the affront was so passionately re- 
sented, I found the bluebird had laid an egg the next 
day. Perhaps a tenant less attached to a favourite 
spot would have acted more fastidiously, by deserting 
the premises altogether. In this instance, also, I 
determined to watch the occurrences that were to 
follow, but, on one of my morning visits, I found the 
common enemy of the eggs and young of all the small 
birds had despoiled the nest, — a coluber was found 
coiled in the hollow, and the eggs sucked. 
“ Agreeably to my observation, all the young birds 
destined to cherish the young cow bird are of a mild 
and affectionate disposition ; and it is not less remark- 
able, that they are all smaller than the intruder ; the 
bluebird is the only one nearly as large. This is a 
good natured mild creature, although it makes a vigo- 
rous defence when assaulted. The yellow-throat, the 
sparrow, the goldfinch, the indigo-bird, and the blue- 
bird, are the only birds in whose nests I have found the 
eggs or the young of the cow-pen finch, though doubt- 
less there are some others. 
“ What becomes of the eggs or young of the pro- 
prietor ? This is the most interesting question that 
appertains to this subject. There must be some special 
law of nature which determines that the young of the 
proprietors are never to be found tenants in common 
with the young cow bird. I shall offer the result of 
my own experience on this point, and leave it to you 
and others, better versed in the mysteries of nature 
than I am, to draw your own conclusions. Whatever 
theory may be adopted, the facts must remain the same. 
Having discovered a sparrow’s nest with five eggs, 
four and one, and the sparrow sitting, I watched the 
nest daily. The egg of the cow bird occupied the 
centre, and those of the sparrow were pushed a little 
