ed to put her into the Newgate Calendar; but she not only
inflicts her own eggs upon her innocent victims, but often actually
tosses their eggs out of the nests in order to make room for her own.
Nor is that all; she will sometimes puncture the eggs of the owners to
prevent their hatching, and thus increase the chances of her own
offspring. Whether this is done with her beak or her claws is still an
open question, Major Bendire inclining to the belief that it is done
with the claws.

Her finesse is still further to be seen in the fact that she usually
selects some bird for a victim that is smaller than herself, so that
when her young hopefuls begin to grow they will be able to crowd or
starve out the true heirs of the family. In this way it is thought
that many a brood comes to an untimely end, the foster parents having
no means of replacing their own little ones when they have been ejected
from the nest. However, I doubt whether the cowbird's impositions are
usually so destructive as some observers are inclined to believe. I
once found a bush sparrow's nest containing one cowbird and four little
sparrows, all of which were in a thriving condition. The sparrows were
so well fed and active that as soon as I touched the nest they sprang,
with loud chirping, over the rim of their cottage and scuttled away
through the grass. They were certainly strong and healthy, in spite of
the presence of their big foster brother. Before they flitted away I
had time to notice how the little family were disposed. The cowbird
was squatted in the center of the nest, while his little foster
brothers and sisters were ranged around him, partly covering him and no
doubt keeping him snug and warm. They were further advanced than he,
for while they scrambled from the nest, he could do nothing but snuggle
close on the bottom of the cup.

A wood thrush's nest that I found contained two young thrushes and two
buntings. All of them were about half fledged. Being of nearly the
same size, the queerly assorted bantlings lived in apparent peace in
their narrow quarters. I watched them at frequent intervals, but saw
no attempts on the part of the foundlings to crowd out their
fellow-nestlings. The cowbirds were the first to leave the sylvan roof
tree. Thus it appears that the intrusion of the cowbird's eggs does
not always mean disaster to the real offspring of the brooding family,
but of course it often prevents the laying of the full comp