The architecture of birds / [Anon].

  • James Rennie
Date:
[1831]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The architecture of birds / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of her, till I had travelled nearly two miles along the margin of a creek. She entered every thick place, prying with the strictest scrutiny-into places where the small birds usually build, and at last darted sud- denly into a thick copse of alders (4lInt) and briars, where she remained for five or six. minutes, when she returned, soaring above the underwood, and re- turned to the company she had left feeding in the field. Upon entering the covert, I found the nest of a yellow-throat (Sylvia Marylandica), with. an egg of each. In the progress of the cow-bird along the creek’s side, she entered the thick boughs of a small cedar, and returned several times before she could prevail on herself to quit the place; and, upon examination, I found a sparrow sitting on its nest, on which she no doubt would have stclen in the absence of the owner: It,is, I believe, certain, that the cow-bird never makes a forcible entry upon the premises, by attacking other birds and ejecting them from their rightful tenements, although they are. all, perhaps, inferior in strength, except the \blue-bird, which, although of a mild as well as affectionate dis- position, makes a vigorous resistance when assaulted. Like most tyrants and thieves, they are cowardly, and accomplish by stealth what they cannot obtain by force. | ‘The yellow-throat returned while I waited near the spot, and darted into her nest, but returned immediate- ly, and perched upon a bough near the place, remained a minute or two, and entered it again, returned and disappeared. In ten minutes she returned with the male. They chattered with great agitation for half an hour, seeming to participate in the affront, and then left the place.’ | It is a most remarkable circumstance, that the eggs of the rightful ow..ers of a nest, both in' the instance of the cuckoo and the cow-bird, should always dis-
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