198 A CLEVER CUCKOO. 



other dangling worm in liis mouth, slipped si- 

 lently through the bushes to the nest, and in 

 a moment dej^arted by the back way without a 

 word. Then we went nearer, looked once more 

 upon the shy but brave little mother, and went 

 our way. 



We did not suspect it, but that was our last 

 sight of the cuckoo family at home; the next 

 day the place was empty and deserted. 



I was smitten with remorse. Were we the 

 cause of the calamity? Had the poor birds car- 

 ried off the babies ? Or had, perchance, another 

 nest tragedy occurred? We looked carefully; 

 there were no signs of a struggle. They had ap- 

 parently flown in peace. Yet six days before 

 one was still in the egg and the other newly 

 hatched. Only two days ago the pair looked 

 like tiny black cushions covered with white 

 pins, and not a quarter the size of the parents. 

 Moreover, they had been sat upon every day. 



In this painful uncertainty we were obliged to 

 leave the matter; but although we saw no more 

 of them, they did not pass out of our minds. 

 Every day we looked in the woods and listened 

 for cuckoo voices, but every day we were disap- 

 pointed, until about eleven days later. 



We were walking slowly down what we called 

 the veery road in the woods, far over the other 

 side from the cuckoo's nest, when we heard a 



