their nest. Every moment or two I could see the head and neck
of the serpent make a sweep at the birds, when the one struck at would
fall back, and the other would renew the assault from the rear. There
appeared to be little danger that the snake could strike and hold one of
the birds, though I trembled for them, they were so bold and approached
so near to the snake's head. Time and again he sprang at them, but
without success. How the poor things panted, and held up their wings
appealingly! Then the snake glided off to the near fence, barely
escaping the stone which I hurled at him. I found the nest rifled and
deranged; whether it had contained eggs or young I know not. The male
sparrow had cheered me many a day with his song, and I blamed myself for
not having rushed at once to the rescue, when the arch enemy was upon
him. There is probably little truth in the popular notion that snakes
charm birds. The black snake is the most subtle, alert, and devilish of
our snakes, and I have never seen him have any but young, helpless birds
in his mouth.

We have one parasitical bird, the cow-bird, so-called because it walks
about amid the grazing cattle and seizes the insects which their heavy
tread sets going, which is an enemy of most of the smaller birds. It
drops its egg in the nest of the song-sparrow, the social sparrow, the
snow-bird, the vireos, and the wood-warblers, and as a rule it is the
only egg in the nest that issues successfully. Either the eggs of
the rightful owner of the nest are not hatched, or else the young are
overridden and overreached by the parasite and perish prematurely.

Among the worst enemies of our birds are the so-called "collectors," men
who plunder nests and murder their owners in the name of science. Not
the genuine ornithologist, for no one is more careful of squandering
bird life than he; but the sham ornithologist, the man whose vanity or
affectation happens to take an ornithological turn. He is seized with an
itching for a collection of eggs and birds because it happens to be the
fashion, or because it gives him the air of a man of science. But in the
majority of cases the motive is a mercenary one; the collector expects
to sell these spoils of the groves and orchards. Robbing the nests
and killing birds becomes a business with him. He goes about it
systematically, and becomes expert in circumventing and slaying our
songsters. Every town of any considerable size is infested with one or
m