r-bird as she tilted and danced on its edge or fluttered
ecstatically above it; and from the end of a swaying twig close by had
swelled the proud song of the male.

The big egg had hatched.

When the first nestling had freed himself from his shell and tried his
long, wabbly legs, he opened a wide-gaping, clamorous red mouth above
his naked little body; and this set the yellowbirds on such persistent
and successful searches after worms, that by the time the young
cowbird's foster brothers and sisters were out, he had grown big and
strong. So the newer babies had been squeezed from the cozy center of
their warm home to a place on its chilly rim.

Affairs in the nest had soon come to a sad pass. The little warblers'
weak voices and short necks were not able to win the reward of tidbits
claimed by the young cowbird, who ruthlessly stood upon them as he
snatched his food from the bills of the yellowbirds. One by one they
sickened and died, and were then pushed out into the wet grass below.
After that the young cowbird had been fed faster and more fondly than
ever.

One afternoon, when the warblers were away foraging for the nest, the
cowbird, now well feathered, had tried his wings a little, and had flown
to a clump of tall weeds not far off. Alighting safely, and emboldened
by success, he had eluded a hungry snake that hunted him across the
gopher knolls, and finally gone on to the top of the hill. When twilight
came he had found a perch in a pile of tumbleweed, far from the
sheltering bushes by the river. So the warblers, coming home late with
two long wrigglers for him, had found the nest empty. They had darted
anxiously about it for a while, then the male had settled upon a
swinging elder-branch to sing a mournful song to his mute,
grief-stricken mate.

Their last baby was gone.

* * * * *

WHEN the little girl came trudging along the road that evening on her
way to the farm-house, she sat down for a moment opposite the stone on
which the cowbird was perched. And after examining a sand cut that was
giving her some trouble under her little toe, she suddenly caught sight
of the dumpy black ball that was moving back and forth with every gust.
She leaned forward on her knees to see what it was, and crept slowly
toward him until she was within reach. Then, before he had time to take
his head from under his wing, she put out one hand and seized him.

He was terribly frightened and strug