280 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



young robin or catbird in her first nesting for 

 the larger cuckoo egg. Nor have I ever seen a 

 cuckoo give the slightest attention to the nest of 

 any other bird. Cuckoos are lovely in colouring, 

 sedate and calm in temperament, and invaluable 

 in any orchard, as one cuckoo crop was found to 

 contain two hundred and fifty tent caterpillars, 

 which few other birds take on account of the hairs, 

 and two hundred and seventeen fall web-worms. 

 The cuckoo is suited to feeding on caterpillars, 

 as he has a thin, flexible gizzard, especially de- 

 signed for disposing of hair. 



One recent European writer says that the Eu- 

 ropean cuckoo places its eggs in the nests of other 

 birds with its beak, implying that it lays them else- 

 where and then carries them to the nests selected. 

 This, I gravely doubt. The birds of my experience 

 have the same habits and characteristics as the 

 European species, but I never see them carrying 

 their young and their eggs through the woods in 

 their beaks. Our cowbirds that have the European 

 cuckoo's habit stand astride the nests of smaller 

 birds and drop their eggs where they want them. 

 The old wood duck does not carry her young, but 

 gives a signal cry, at which they tumble from the 

 nesl and scamper to the water. The only egg or bird 

 1 ever see in the beak of another bird is being eaten. 



Nothing but energetic work on the part of both 

 bird- could complete in a reasonable time the deep, 

 compact cup of I he goldfinch or I lie summer yellow- 



