How the First Baby Cuckoo 
But in the meantime it was quite 
time for Mrs. Cuckoo to lay her eggs ; 
the matter could not be postponed any 
longer. All the hedges were in full 
leaf, and in every direction were families 
of birds which had already left their 
homes and were hopping about the twigs 
and trying awkwardly to fly, every now 
and then tumbling head over heels in 
the attempt, while their parents were 
almost beside themselves in their anxiety 
not to lose any of the brood. The tire- 
some little things wow/d persist in all 
straggling different ways, and it was 
simply impossible to keep their eyes on 
all of them and see they didn’t get into 
mischief. ‘ Bobby! Bobby!’ an anxious 
mother would pipe. ‘Oh! who has seen 
my little Bobby?’ Nobody had seen 
him, but somebody ad seen a weasel 
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