BIRDS OF OUR BUSH 



have digressed. Built of grasses and mosses, and sus- 

 pended amongst green bracken fern, the nest is particularly 

 dainty. The eggs are a beautiful light blue, like a summer 

 sky, and their presence adds to an already pretty picture. 

 On two or three occasions we have attempted to photograph 

 the adult White-eye, but so far without success. We must 

 admit that they are particularly greedy birds, and they 

 always appear to be more intent upon satisfying their own 

 internal wants than upon defending their homes. 



As photographers, we are not exceedingly interested in 

 that family of birds known as Cuckoos. The reason for our 

 attitude is that, as the Cuckoo builds no nest of its own, 

 photography of the adult is almost out of the question. How- 

 ever, these birds enter considerably, if uninvitedly, into the 

 lives of many of the species we have mentioned, and so are 

 deserving of reference. A bird which builds no nest of its 

 own, but which deposits its egg in the home of another 

 species, and also allows foster-parents to rear its young, is 

 an anomaly in the world of Nature. Just why the Cuckoo 

 should be deprived of the privileges of parenthood is diffi- 

 cult to determine. We have not seen a theory advanced. 

 The disadvantage is not wholly on the side of the Cuckoo. 

 The unfortunate bird which returns home one fine day to 

 discover a strange egg in its nest, is destined to disappoint- 

 ment, even if at the time it does not realise the fact. That 

 these foster-parents do regard the Cuckoo as a pest is quite 

 patent by the commotion which its appearance in their 

 midst invariably causes. It seems certain that they do 

 connect the presence of the strange egg with the presence 

 of their unwelcome neighbour. If the Cuckoo's egg is the 

 first in the nest, moreover, the nesting birds quite often 

 display sufficient intelligence to cover it up and thus prevent 

 its incubation. Usually, however, the Cuckoo nestling 

 appears along with the sons and daughters of the unfortun- 

 ate owners of the nest. It quickly asserts an unjust claim 

 to most of the food supply, and, strengthened as a result of 

 this greed, ejects one by one the rightful heirs to the family 

 residence. The adopted chicken is thereafter fed and cared 

 for as if it had nothing at all to do with the loss of the other 

 members of the brood. 



Very often the young Cuckoo is bigger and stronger 

 than the foster parents which feed it, and far outgrows the 

 nest it occupies. 



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