| Show nature study stories by M MC WC tius jack was walking alono la in tho wooda woods beside wildcat creek looking for birds nest evon even though he waa was only seven save n years old thu knew know what kind kinds ov 0 nests most of the common birds made what color their eggs wore bow many they laid and where they generally mado made their bomea so on this day bo ho was hunting up uv bis his old friende friends and say ing good morning to their families bat you bo alarmed ho he nover never touched a single nest nor wont went near enough to frighten the baby birds As tho little boy went long along he talked to the birds on or near the neste nests hello brown thrasher hoseid he said at one noet nest 1 I thought id find you hero bare in the brush pile but I 1 mean to you off may be you wanted to show me nie your pretty nest and three pretty brown speckled eggs therell bo be another tomorrow wont therol there goodbye good bye brownie im going to seo soo your neighbor mrs cat bird now and down he went to the hedge fence to the edge of uncle wills luttio paa pas turo ture an and 4 climbed upon a stump there hi the hedge about five live feet from the ground was a neat nest of sticks neatly built and in it ft were ro three little almost naked gray birds and one ono beautiful blue egg 0 too bad mrs cat bird one of your pretty cage engs hatch but then after all therell bo be that much more food for tho the other babies no little gray mother you cry so im not going any nearer and I 1 hurt one of your babies tor for anything uncle will says you do lots of good of course the cat bird mother had been near all the time and kept up her odd baby like liko cry jacklo jackie came next to a bunch of weeds near the corner of the woods pasture he could bear uncle wills ax a on ou the other side of the hedge i but he wanted to call on one more friend before going over to watch uncle wills chips fly this one friend he was now going to visit bad had made a tiny nest of fine brown roots and lined it with borso hair when jack had last seen it it had just been finished and was still empty now as ho he carefully parted the bunch of weeds and looked in be he saw it held ovo brown speckled eggs why jackle jackie said aloud tunny funny those eggs look a lot the same but four are teeny tiny and hud one Is great big wonder that Is and then he ran quickly to tho hedge uncle willi uncle will come here quick ChIp chippla laid four tiny eggs and one big one come and MOM uncle will came crawled through a gap in the thorny fence and looked into tho the nest neat bubble dubble ibe said theres 1 been a thief here bore chippie lay that big egg thais a cows birds egg well have to take it ft out or when it hatches kill all our baby chipping sparrows and reaching in very verk carefully so aa as not to touch the nest or the other eggs ho he took out the big one tell me about it jack said simply well a cowbird cow bird Is very very lazy she build any nest at all jill nor look after her family she really never sees her f family amily she goes around to other birds nests generally smaller birds than herself and lays one egg in all the nests she can find unguarded when the mother bird who belongs belonge to each neet hatches her bar own little eggs the bigger one Js Is hatched too the baby cowbird cow bird growe grows eo so much taster faster than the others that it soon crowde crowds out the little ones that really belong there and so geta gets all the food itself cowbird cowbirds cow bird birds do no good at all they dont sing bin they do the farmer no good they alq are not even very pretty while the little birda birds abey destroy are song birda birds insect and seed eat era and are often very beautiful well W ell im going to look for those big eggs after this they wont kill any more of our chiP chimples ples or song sont sparrows or warble warbles if I 1 can help it baculo saidi with determination |
