FAMILY CARES — NURSERY DUTIES. 169 



holes in some of the eggs in the nest of the selected 

 victims, and this is about the only mark of care 

 which they show for the future of their progeny. 

 But for this precaution the little uninvited guest 

 might starve in the midst of plenty. Of the 

 eggs which are left, most, if not all, hatch out ; 

 the litile nestlings are soon however despatched, 

 — not in the way adopted by our cuckoo, but 

 either by the simple expedient of sitting on and 

 smothering them, or by seizing all the food 

 brought to the nest and so starving them. The 

 cow-bird is probably doomed to extinction, for 

 though a large number of eggs are apparently 

 produced by "each bird, only a small proportion 

 ever succeed in being hatched. A considerable 

 percentage are said to be laid in empty nests, 

 some are droj^ped on the ground, and some 

 destroyed by the parents themselves by being 

 spiked like those of their victims ! 



Another South American bird, one of the 

 hangnests (Cassidix oryzivorus), places its egg in 

 the nest of another hangnest (C. jpersicus) ; but 

 so far as is known no destruction of the young 

 of the host takes place in consequence. 



The case of the koel, a cuckoo found in India 

 and the Malay Archipelago, is one of great in- 

 terest, combining the habits both of mimicry and 

 parasitism. 



The female of this cuckoo — as with others — 

 differs in coloration from the male, which is black. 

 But though it generally happens when this is 

 the case, that the young resembles the female, 

 in this particular instance the young cuckoo, 

 like its male parent is black. Now the host 



