THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



wings. Sometimes one will catch in 

 its beak the tip of the other's wing, to 

 which it will cling and tug with bull- 

 dog tenacity. This is usually the fin- 

 ish. The opponent screams like a hurt 

 human and tries to beat the other off 

 with its free wing. Tugging this way 

 and that, the creatures slide and tumble 

 on the ice until finally the several 

 feathers are jerked out, when the in- 

 jured one is glad to fly away. The 

 other again returns to the spot where 

 he left the fish, usually to find it stolen 

 by some gull which has flown away 

 with it, followed by hundreds of his 

 screaming fellows, all intent upon 

 stealing it ; or, if it happens to be an 

 extremely heavy fish, he finds it pre- 

 sided over by another large gull whose 

 authority he is too exhausted to chal- 

 lenge. 



Curious Action of a Cuckoo. 



BY REVEREND MAXLEV B- TOWNSEND, 



XASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



Photograph by G. H. Higbee, Hyde Park, 



Massachusetts. 



One June day a few years ago, the 

 writer, in company with the editor of 

 this department of The Guide to 

 Nature, took a canoe trip up the 



TWO LITTLE CUCKOOS IN THE NEST. 



Charles River in Eastern Massachusetts. 

 The weather was perfect, the day en- 

 trancingly beautiful, and many nests with 

 eggs and young birds were found. At 

 the noon hour a landing was made in a 

 shady spot and there we were so fortun- 



ate as to discover the nest of a yellow 

 billed cuckoo built low in a bush on the 

 river bank. It was a frail structure, 

 loosely made of twigs and so poorly con- 

 structed, in fact, that the young were vis- 

 ible from beneath through the bottom. 

 There were two little fellows of dift'ereiit 

 sizes. The cuckoo lays one egg and im- 

 mediately begins to incubate it before the 

 other eggs are laid. The result is a fam- 

 ily of assorted sizes. In this particular 

 nest, one bird, the larger, appeared strong 

 and vigorous ; the other was much small- 

 er and appeared feeble. 



As we were taking a picture, clouds 

 rolled vip and soon the rain was falling 

 smartly. We crawled beneath our over- 

 turned canoe, and were enjoying the 

 downpour in our dry shelter when we 

 heard a rush of wings and saw the par- 

 ent bird swiftly approaching. Alighting 

 upon the edge of the nest she started to 

 cover the young but hesitated and ap- 

 peared to deliberate. Then occurred a 

 curious thing. Making a sudden grab she 

 seized in her beak one of her ofl:'spring, 

 which subsequent investigation proved to 

 be the weakling, and, pulling it from the 

 nest, flew away ! We looked at each other 

 in amazement. What could it mean? 

 What was the bird up to ? She did not re- 

 turn and the rain having ceased we pur- 

 sued our way. Had the cuckoo detected 

 our presence and removed her young, and 

 would she remove the other ; or had she 

 found the little fellow practically perished 

 from exposure to the cold rain and de- 

 cided to throw it away? We determined 

 to investigate on our way back. 



Many hours later, on our way down 

 the river at the sunset hour, we landed 

 at the nest. There was the other bird 

 and it was warm, proving that the parent 

 had just left, probably when she detected 

 our approach. We therefore concluded 

 that the weakling had been deliberately 

 destroyed. Other animals, including sav- 

 age man, appear to have this habit. 



By keepins: one's eyes open, many such 

 unique observations may be "mde. This 

 is the charm of nature ''■:'v — there is 

 no end to the interestinq- things to be 

 seen. 



When Nature shows her best to you 



Just show 3'our best to her; 

 Appreciation, gratitude, — 



In these you could not err. 



— Emma Peirce. 



