THE CUCKOO. 275 



In Berwickshire this species generally lays in nests of 

 the Titlin, one egg only being placed in each. Mr. Hardy 

 relates that, in the summer of 1842, he discovered near 

 Eed Clues a nest, in which, along with three Titlin's eggs, 

 was one of the Cuckoo, the latter not being much larger 

 than the former. The Titlin hatched the strange egg 

 and two of her own, the third being unproductive ; but 

 soon afterwards the young Cuckoo threw its two com- 

 panions and the addled egg out of the nest, near which 

 Mr. Hardy found them lying when he next visited the spot. 

 A full account of the manner in which the intruder 

 accomplishes this feat is given in Yarrell's History of British 

 Birds} When the nest of the intended foster-parent is 

 situated close under a bank, or in such a position that the 

 Cuckoo cannot lay in it in the ordinary way, she has 

 been observed to deposit her egg on the ground hard by, 

 take it up in her bill, and place it in the nest. The egg 

 of the Cuckoo is generally of a pale greyish green, or 

 reddish grey, more or less closely mottled with darker 

 markings, but it varies to bright blue and other colours. 

 Two in my collection, which were found in Titlins' nests, 

 are very like the eggs of that bird, but somewhat larger. 

 When the young assassin has ejected the rightful occupants, 

 it monopolises the whole attention of the foster-parents, 

 grows rapidly, and leaves the nest in about a fortnight. 

 For some weeks afterwards it continues to be fed by them, 

 and they have sometimes been observed alighting on its 

 shoulders and placing the food which they have collected 

 in its gaping mouth." 



The young Cuckoo, when fully fledged, differs greatly in 



1 Yarrell, History of British Birds, 4tli ed., vol. ii. p. 395. 



- This habit is mentioned by Yarrell in his History of British Birds. Mr. 

 Kelly states {Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. vii. p. 522) that the late Mr. Simson, 

 Lauder, when living at Edgarhope, saw a Meadow Pipit feeding a young Cuckoo 

 by alighting on its shoulders and placing the food in its mouth. 



