Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 23, 2025
The Doctor laughed and looked at the cows that were pasturing in the roadside fields, for they were passing a farming village. "I don't see any Cowbirds this afternoon," said Nat, thinking the Doctor was looking for them. "This time I am looking at the cows themselves! Those over there are beautiful creatures, and there is a clear spring of water in the corner of the pasture.
I watched them at frequent intervals, but saw no attempts on the part of the foundlings to crowd out their fellow-nestlings. The cowbirds were the first to leave the sylvan roof tree.
No change in the program since the days of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida when: "The busy day Wak'd by the lark, hath roused the ribald crows." Then came the liquid notes of the cowbirds, like the pouring of mingled molasses and olive oil. Three handsome fellows in ebony and dark brown sit on the branch of a tall elm and just beneath them sit three brownish gray females, all in a row.
By and by, however, when he grows large enough to shift for himself, he deserts his little parents and nurses and seeks companionship among his own blood kindred, who doubtless bring him up in the way all cowbirds should go. It is surprising how many species are imposed on successfully by the cowbird. The number, so far as has been observed, is ninety, with probably more to be added.
I have no evidence that young birds sing, except occasionally in a low, tentative kind of way, till they return the following season, and then birds of a feather flock together, robins staying with robins, and cowbirds with cowbirds, each singing the song of its species. The songs of bobolinks differ in different localities, but those of the same locality always sing alike.
In order to find out what was what, the Muley Cow made up her mind to ask the cowbirds a question the very next time she met them. It wasn't long before they gathered around her again. "We've come to rid you of flies once more," they announced as they began to jostle one another while they snapped at the insects hovering about the Muley Cow.
And soon afterward the song sparrow told his wife that there was always something to learn, no matter if one were as old as the Muley Cow. The Muley Cow couldn't quite believe what Mr. Song Sparrow had told her about the cowbirds. But if it was true, she didn't want anything more to do with them. And if it wasn't true, she intended to be specially agreeable to them.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking