Home › Contents › The Impostor

The Impostor

A happy pair of Maryland Yellow-throats selected as a place in which to build their house, a spot on the bank of a tiny brook. The male Yellow-throat was a beautiful bird, a gentlebird of leisure and fashion; he had a hand, or at least a voice, in all that went on in the little bird community in which he dwelt. He tried to settle all disputes that arose among the other birds; his notes of protest were loudest if anyones home was raided or disturbed by bird, mammal or man and he was the watchman of the village, his long, rattling alarm ringing out if any form of danger appeared. He flashed here, there and everywhere, his beady eyes twinkling in their black mask as he peered from the underbrush; ever and anon he darted to the top of some shrub and his loud, clear "witchery-witchery-witchery" would ring out above the songs of other birds. He encouraged his mate to work her hardest at building their little cup-shaped home, but he did not assist her in any other way. The nest was made of grasses and strips of bark; it was set among the weeds so that the bottom just touched the ground. The inside was very deep, as is customary among these birds, -so deep that the sitting bird was entirely below the rim. One morning a handsome little egg appeared in the nest, -delicate, white, spotted chiefly about the large end. The next morning another similar one lay beside it. At some time during that day the imposter appeared, a Cowbird. As Mrs. Yellow-throat was not at home and the gallant sire was having an argument with some of his neighbors, she settled comfortably on the top of the little nest and when she left, there were three eggs, one much larger than the others and more thickly spotted.

No one can tell the feelings of a little bird when it finds a spurious egg in its nest. Birds, except in unusual instances, cannot count, but they must recognize the difference in sizes between the eggs. Usually they accept the odd one without protest but instances often occur when a little bird, wiser than others of her kind, rolls the undesired egg out of the nest or builds another bottom to her nest, sacrificing her own eggs with the one of the Cowbird.

In this instance, the little Yellow-throat laid two more eggs of her own and the nest would hold no more. As usual, the Cowbird egg, probably because it is larger and receives more warmth from the sitting bird, hatched a day before the smaller eggs. I passed by the nest and watched the progress of the young nearly every morning. Male and female Yellow-throat were very busy feeding the little birds; the young Cowbird, because of his larger size and much larger appetite, received food twice to every once for the rightful occupants of the nest. Young Maryland Yellow throats are much stronger and more active than the young of most other warblers, so that all four of them were able to stand the crowding and pushing of the young Cowbird. In many instances, especially when nests are located above ground, the little birds that really belong there are crowded out or else suffocated.

Fig. 157. He started in alarm as he heard the click of the camera shutter.

My plans for pictures at this nest were wholly upset. The day before I expected them to leave the nest, I appeared ready to do business. The four little Yellow-throats and one large Cowbird were all in the nest but so crowded they scarce could move. The tent was placed in position and the camera carefully focussed. At the last moment I reached out to remove an offending blade of grass that would have appeared out of focus in a picture. Like a flash, four little Yellow-throats scuttled away in four directions through the weeds, leaving their clumsy foster-brother in the nest. I caught just one of the little sprites but he proved unmanageable so that I had to let him go and confine my photographic attempts to the Cowbird.

Fig. 158. A male Yellow-throat feeding a young Cowbird bigger than itself.

He was perched on a branch in front of the camera and I waited for developments. The two adult Yellow-throats evidently talked the matter over and decided that she should look after her four, sprightly offspring, while he would take care of the larger, helpless member of the family. Sir Yellow-throat coaxed and he coaxed and scolded and scolded trying to make the young Cowbird leave the perch; he even tried to knock him off as he flew past, but the stolid youngster would not budge. He just opened his mouth to its fullest extent and begged loudly for something to eat; he cared not nor thought of danger, just of his appetite.