GREY CUCKOO. 125 



the eggs having disappeared, he " saw the young cuckoo, though 

 so lately hatched, in the act of turning out the young hedge- 

 sparrow. The little animal, with the assistance of its rump 

 and wings, contrived to get the bird upon its back, and mak- 

 ing a lodgement for its burden by elevating its elbows, clam- 

 bered backwards with it up the side of the nest till it reached 

 the top, where, resting for a moment, it threw off its load with 

 a jerk, and quite disengaged it from the nest. It remained 

 in this situation for a short time, feeling about with the ex- 

 tremities of its wings, as if to be convinced whether the busi- 

 ness was properly executed, and then dropped into the nest 

 again. With these, the extremities of its wings," he conti- 

 nues, " I have often seen it examine, as it were, the egg and 

 nestling before it began its operations ; and the nice sensibilities 

 which these parts seem to possess, seemed sufficiently to com- 

 pensate the want of sight, which as yet it was destitute of. I 

 afterwards put in an egg, and this, by a similar process, was 

 conveyed to the edge of the nest and thrown out. These ex- 

 periments I have since repeated several times, in different nests, 

 and have always found the young cuckoo disposed to act in the 

 same manner."" He then states that its shape is well adapted 

 for this purpose, as its back is very broad, with a depression in 

 the middle, which is not filled up until it is about twelve days 

 old. When two cuckoos' eggs happen to be deposited in the 

 same nest, a severe contest takes place between the newly- 

 fledged young, and continues until the weaker is ejected. 



These observations have been verified by Montagu, who, in 

 the Introduction to his Ornithological Dictionary, makes the 

 following statement. " I first saw it (the young Cuckoo) when a 

 few days old in the Hedge-Sparrow's nest in a garden close to a 

 cottage, the owner of which assured me the Hedge-Sparrow had 

 four eggs when the Cuckoo dropped a fifth; that on the morn- 

 ing the young Cuckoo was hatched, two young Hedge -Sparrows 

 were also excluded, and that on his return from work in the 

 evening, nothing was left in the nest but the Cuckoo. At five 

 or six days old I took it to my house, when I frequently saw 

 it throw out the young Swallow (which was put in for the pur- 

 pose of experiment) for four or five days after. This singular 



