166 THE STORY OF BIRD-LIFE. 



up the open side of the nest and hitched the 

 pipit from its back on the edge. It then stood 

 upright on its legs, which were straddled wide 

 apart with the claws firmly fixed halfway down 

 the inside of the nest, among the interlacing 

 fibres of which the nest was woven, and stretch- 

 ing its wings apart and backwards, it elbowed 

 the pipit fairly over the margin so far that its 

 struggles took it down the bank instead of back 

 into the nest. After this the cuckoo stood a 

 minute or two feeling back with its wings, as 

 if to make sure that the pipit was fairly over- 

 board, and then subsided into the bottom of the 

 Best. 



" As it was getting late, and the cuckoo did not 

 immediately set to work on the other nestling, I 

 replaced the ejected one and went home. On 

 returning next day both nestlings were found 

 dead and cold out of the nest. I replaced one 

 of them, but the cuckoo made no effort to get 

 under and eject it, but settled itself contentedly 

 on the top of it. All this I find accords accur- 

 ately with Jenner's description of what he saw. 

 But what struck me most was this : the cuckoo 

 was perfectly naked, without a vestige of a 

 feather, or even a hint of feathers, its eyes were 

 not yet opened, and its neck seemed too weak 

 to support the weight of its head. The pipits 

 had well-developed quills on the wings and back, 

 and had bright eyes j^artially opened, yet they 

 seemed quite helpless under the manipulations of 

 the cuckoo, whicn looked a much less developed 

 creature. The cuckoo's legs, however, seemed 

 very muscular, and it appeared to feel about with 



