FAMILY CARES — NURSERY DUTIES. 163 



parents, commonly and rightly described as 

 parasitic birds. Though individual cases of this 

 kind are comparatively rare, the facts concerning 

 them are really striking. 



First of all let us take that of our British 

 cuckoo. It is a matter of common knowledge, 

 probably that this bird always lays its eggs 

 in that of other birds, and leaves to them the 

 entire responsibility of hatching and rearing 

 its offspring. 



Exactly how the egg is placed in the nest 

 was, until recently, a matter of much controversy. 

 For it was often found in a nest so completely 

 fenced in by brushwood, or in one so small as to 

 make it quite impossible that ib could have 

 been "laid" in the ordinary manner. It is 

 now known that it is laid first upon the bare 

 ground, then taken up in the beak, carried to the 

 home of the victim selected, and dropped in. 



From the laborious observation of a German 

 naturalist named Rey, we have learned much 

 concerning the choice of nests made by the 

 cuckoo. 



A large per centage of the nests selected in 

 his district were those of the red-backed shrike ; 

 but, as in England, those of the wagtail, robin, 

 blackbird, thrush, hedge-sparrow, pipit, bunting, 

 reed-warbler, and so on, were also requisitioned. 

 He further found, and his observations have been 

 confirmed from many sources, that each particular 

 cuckoo will always select the same kind of nest 

 in which to lay ; and that probably of the 

 species by which it had itself been reared. The 

 eg§, moreover, generally bears a striking re- 



