INSTINCTS OF BIRDS. 273 



tliey do upon their own. Thus the titlark and 

 hedge-warbler manifest the warmest attachment 

 to the young cuckoos, their foster nurslings, 

 though they suffer their own progeny, ejected 

 by the intruders, to perish from neglect within a 

 short distance of the nest; and this aiTection 

 continues with little diminution till their suppo- 

 sitious offspring have nearly attained their full 

 growth. Yet, under other circumstances, they 

 would pursue and persecute them with the utmost 

 rancour. 



The instinctive nature of these actions is like- 

 wise satisfactorily established by the fact, that 

 birds when taken very young, and brought up 

 in confinement, not only construct nests occa- 

 sionally, but also lay their eggs in them, which 

 they will sit upon till hatched, should they prove 

 prolific, and will then carefully attend to the 

 young. An anecdote or two serving more fully 

 to corroborate the opinion advanced above, will 

 not, it is hoped, be unacceptable. 



In the beginning of May, 1812, having found 

 a buzzard*s nest containing a single egg^ the 

 egg was taken and a light-coloured stone 

 substituted for it, over which a rat-trap was 

 set. The buzzard sat upon the trap a day and 

 night, when it was discovered, that the iron ring 



2 M 



