. Nature Study Birds : A Book for Beginners in Bird Study . 50 We crossed the fields and were near-ly to the house when Dick said to hissister:—Come on. Dorothy ! Let uslook at the Chipping Sparrow nests wefound yesterday. They were off with a rush., racingto see who would reach the orchardfirst. Dick arrived at the tree firstwith Dorothy right at his heels. Upboth went as nimbly as squirrels, andsoon were looking into the nest Dor-othy had found. Uncle George ! Come here quick!There are five eggs now! There wereonly three yesterday: and one of them is bigger and white,with little brown spots
. Nature Study Birds : A Book for Beginners in Bird Study . 50 We crossed the fields and were near-ly to the house when Dick said to hissister:—Come on. Dorothy ! Let uslook at the Chipping Sparrow nests wefound yesterday. They were off with a rush., racingto see who would reach the orchardfirst. Dick arrived at the tree firstwith Dorothy right at his heels. Upboth went as nimbly as squirrels, andsoon were looking into the nest Dor-othy had found. Uncle George ! Come here quick!There are five eggs now! There wereonly three yesterday: and one of them is bigger and white,with little brown spots all over it. These and other ex-clamations came rapidly from the two excited children. I am sure the large egg is that of a Cowbird. said climbed up beside them and sure enough, the little Chip-ping Sparrow had laid her fourth egg and a Cowbird hadadded hers to make five. The nest was small and was al-most full of eggs. That of the Cowbird was quite warmwhile the other four were cold, showing that the large onehad been very recently From Land Birds COWBIRD 51 Well. Dick. 1 guess we had better remove the egg of theCowbird. As it has just been laid, I do not think the littlesparrow will leave the nest if we take it out, and surely ifwe let it hatch with hers, the nest will be so crowded thather own little ones will be killed. The Cowbird is the only bird we have in this countrythat always lays its eggs in other birds nests, leaving itschildren for them to care for. Their eggs are nearly alwayslaid in the nests of smaller birds and since the young Cow-bird is so much bigger and stronger than its foster brothersand cisters, the latter are very often forced out of the nestor starved because he is so greedy. Cowbirds are often known as Lazy Birds becausethey build no nest of their own; young Cowbirds are lazy,too, for they follow their little foster mothers about andmake them feed them long after their own children are ableto care for themselves. It is a very queer si
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