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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
19
And
what
is
the
almost
certain
doom
of
the
bird-home
thus
contaminated
by
the
cow-bird?
The
egg
is
always
laid
betimes,
and
is
usually
the
first
to
hatch,
the
period
of
incubation
being
a
day
or
two
less
than
that
of
the
eggs
of
the
foster-parent.
And
woe
be
to
the
fledglings
whom
fate
has
associated
with
a
young
cow-bird!
He
is
the
"early
bird
that
gets
the
worm."
His
is
the
clamoring
red
mouth
which
takes
the
provender
of
the
entire
family.
It
is
all
"grist
into
his
mill,"
and
everything
he
eats
seems
to
go
to
appetite--his
bedfellows,
if
not
thus
starved
to
death,
being
at
length
crushed
by
his
comparatively
ponderous
bulk,
or
ejected
from
the
nest
to
die.
It
is
a
pretty
well
established
fact
that
the
cuckoo
of
Europe
deliberately
ousts
its
companion
fledglings--a
fact
first
noted
by
the
famous
Dr.
Jenner.
And
Darwin
has
even
asserted
that
the
process
of
anatomical
evolution
has
especially
equipped
the
young
cuckoo
for
such
an
accomplishment--a
practice
in
which
some
accommodating
philosophic
minds
detect
the
act
of
"divine
beneficence,"
in
that
"the
young
cuckoo
is
thus
insured
sufficient
food,
and
that
its
foster-brothers
thus
perish
before
they
have
acquired
much
feeling."
The
following
account,
written
by
an
eye-witness,
bears
the
stamp
of
authenticity,
and
is
furthermore
re-enforced
by
a
careful
and
most
graphic
drawing
made
on
the
spot,
which
I
here
reproduce,
and
fully
substantiates
the
previous
statement
by
Dr.
Jenner.
The
scene
of
the
tragedy
was
the
nest
of
a
pipit,
or
titlark,
on
the
ground
beneath
a
heather-bush.
When
first
discovered
it
contained
two
pipit's
eggs
and
the
egg
of
a
cuckoo.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
