4 Baby Birds at Home 



bill and carries it to the nest of a meadow 

 pipit, hedge sparrow, pied wagtail, tree 

 pipit, or other small bird. The owner of 

 the nest either does not notice, or does not 

 mind, the addition to her clutch, and keeps 

 it warm and dry along with her own eggs. 



In due season the baby Cuckoo is hatched, 

 and speedily reveals a character as black 

 as the ugly skin that covers its ungainly 

 body. Although it cannot see, it can feel, 

 and does not rest until it has succeeded in 

 getting the other chicks, or eggs, in the nest 

 on to its back, and by a mighty effort thrown 

 them out of their rightful home. 



A baby Cuckoo never appears to be 

 either satisfied or grateful. Its foster 

 parents may bring caterpillars along as 

 fast as ever they can find them, but the 

 chick's great ugly mouth is for ever held 

 widely open in request of more. 



It is a stupid chick, for when it has 

 fledged and is waiting for food it does not 

 stoop to meet its wee foster mother, but 

 rears its head high in the air, quite out of 

 reach of any pipit or wagtail. The little 

 bird is therefore obliged to jump on its back, 

 and drop the food down its throat. 



