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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
22
And
yet,
as
I
left
the
spot,
I
confess
to
a
certain
misgiving,
as
the
pleading
chirrup
of
the
ousted
fledgling
followed
me
faintly
and
more
faintly
up
the
hill,
recalling,
too,
the
many
previous
similar
acts
of
mine--and
one
in
particular,
when
I
had
slaughtered
in
cold
blood
two
of
these
irresponsibles
found
in
a
single
nest.
But
sober
second
thought
evoked
a
more
philosophic
and
conscientious
mood,
the
outcome
of
which
leading,
as
always,
to
a
semi-conviction
that
the
complex
question
of
reconciliation
of
duty
and
humanity
in
the
premises
was
not
thus
easily
disposed
of,
considering,
as
I
was
bound
to
do,
the
equal
innocence
of
the
chicks,
both
of
which
had
been
placed
in
the
nest
in
obedience
to
a
natural
law,
which
in
the
case
of
the
cow-bird
was
none
the
less
a
divine
institution
because
I
failed
to
understand
it.
Such
is
the
inevitable,
somewhat
penitent
conclusion
which
I
always
arrive
at
on
the
cow-bird
question;
and
yet
my
next
cow-bird
fledgling
will
doubtless
follow
the
fate
of
all
its
predecessors,
the
reminiscent
qualms
of
conscience
finding
a
ready
philosophy
equal
to
the
emergency;
for
if,
indeed,
this
parasite
of
the
bird
home
be
a
factor
in
the
divine
plan
of
Nature's
equilibrium,
looking
towards
the
survival
of
the
fittest
and
the
regulation
of
the
sparrow
and
small-bird
population,
which
we
must
admit,
how
am
I
to
know
but
that
this
righteous
impulse
of
the
human
animal
is
not
equally
a
divine,
as
it
is
certainly
a
natural
institution
looking
to
the
limitations
of
the
cow-bird?
One
June
morning,
a
year
or
two
ago,
I
heard
a
loud
squeaking,
as
of
a
young
bird
in
the
grass
near
my
door,
and,
on
approaching,
discovered
the
spectacle
of
a
cow-bird,
almost
full-fledged,
being
fed
by
its
foster-mother,
a
chippy
not
more
than
half
its
size,
and
which
was
obliged
to
stand
on
tiptoe
to
cram
the
gullet
of
the
parasite.
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