Observations on the Cuckoo, 335 



she had had time to finish her operations. I have myself 

 seen a meadow pipit attack most resolutely, and drive away, a 

 cuckoo from the vicinity of its abode, I think I may safely 

 say from off its nest, as the cuckoo rose from the ground 

 (and this happened, by the by, about six o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, which is not very confirmatory of an opinion I just now 

 advanced). We might have imagined, indeed, that the cuckoo 

 would always clear the nest previously to introducing her own 

 egg, if Mr. Hoy's direct observation [V. 278., and quoted 

 VIII. 294.] had not satisfactorily proved the contrary. 



The other remark of that gentleman, to the amount that 

 it appears to be usual for the birds in whose nests the cuckoo 

 may have deposited an egg, before they may themselves have 

 begun to lay, to cast out the cuckoo's egg [VIII. 294.], may 

 be true in some instances, and not in others, and may be 

 coupled with the following passage from Wilson : — " It is 

 well known to those who have paid attention to the manners 

 of birds, that, after the nest is fully finished, a day or two 

 generally elapses before the female begins to lay. This delay 

 is, in most cases, necessary to give firmness to the yet damp 

 materials, and allow them time to dry. In this state it is 

 sometimes met with, and laid in by the cow-bunting; the re- 

 sult of which I have invariably found to be the desertion of 

 the nest by its rightful owners, and the consequent loss of the 

 egg thus dropt in it by the intruder." Experiments on this 

 subject may easily be tried by any one who can spare the 

 time, as it is obvious that any sort of small egg will answer 

 the purpose equally as well as that of the cuckoo. Accord- 

 ing, however, to my own observations, deduced chiefly from 

 experiments in which larks' eggs were employed, as being 

 somewhat similar to those of the cuckoo, the nest is some- 

 times forsaken, and sometimes the alien egg is cast out. 



As no further light can now be thrown upon the well-esta- 

 blished fact [295, 296.] of the young cuckoo always ejecting 

 from the nest whatever companions it may chance to have, it 

 will be needless for me to say here a single word upon this 

 subject; at least, further than that I am fully able to corro- 

 borate it. Nests upon the ground, however, may sometimes 

 be so situate, as to render it impossible for the young cuckoo 

 to turn out its fellow-nestlings; of which I have been told an 

 instance, wherein four callow wagtails were found dead, ap- 

 parently starved, beneath the usurper of their abode. 



Most small birds exhibit a marked hostility towards the 

 young cuckoo, as well as to the old, and no sooner does it 

 leave the nest, than the place of its retreat is sure to be made 

 known by a concourse of swallows and other small birds, en- 

 deavouring, as much as they can, to annoy it; amongst all 



