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have had a weakness for peering into every bird's nest I came across. 

 I admire the artistic beauty and workmanship of the nests, and the pretty 

 eggs therein, and I have had a hope of some day finding a Cuckoo's 

 egg. In only one instance have I so far been successful. The egg was 

 in the nest of a blackcap, in the edge of a gutter on my farm at Ullock, 

 in the parish of Dean. In the summer of 1875, i"^ the parish of Arlecdon, 

 still following up my old habit, I went a little out of my way one day to 

 have another look at the nest of a meadow pipit, which I had observed 

 sometime previously. To my great astonishment, I found there, not a 

 nestful of little pipits, but one young Cuckoo, just shewing a few feathers 

 in his wings and other places ; but what a ferocious looking fellow, what 

 a black, diabolical, mischievous eye ! He would have pecked me to 

 death if he'd had the power, judging from his earnest endeavours to bite 

 my fingers : he throve apace, and at last left the nest, remaining for a 

 few days perched on an adjoining wall, before finally disappearing. I was 

 careful on the first discovery, to examine the nest and gutter beneath, 

 but found no young pipits or eggs ; they might have been washed away 

 by the stream if thrown out of ihe nest by the Cuckoo." 



In the summer of 1867, in the nest of a meadow pipit, near the 

 Nag's Head Inn, Wythbum, a young Cuckoo was observed by my 

 brother ; it was the sole occupant of the nest, and was fed by its foster 

 parents until it was fledged ; it was then seen for some time flying about 

 the place and perching on the haycocks, until it finally disappeared. 



The strange action of the young Cuckoo, in ejecting the other 

 nestlings from the nest, their true home, was long a matter of controversy. 

 It is now, however, needless to bring forward all the evidence from 

 various quarters on this point ; suffice it to say that the infant Cuckoo, 

 blind and unfledged, has been seen to get rid of its foster-brothers by 

 insinuating its hinder quarters under the young birds, hoisting them upon 

 its back, and tumbling them over the edge of the nest. Mr. Gould, a 

 great authority, who at first doubted the truth of this strange habit, has 

 now accepted the fact as such. 



I will here give the dates of the arrival of the Cuckoo in this district, 

 for a series of years, as noted by Mr. Greenip of Keswick : — 



