go Further Facts and some Results. 



cuckoo, and not more than from two or three days 

 could have elapsed since it had crept forth from the 

 the egg. 



" Not far from the nest two young pipits were lying, 

 which were certainly still alive, though extremely 

 feeble ; and, a little further off, a similar young bird, 

 already dead. As we took the little birds in our 

 hands, it was apparent that their crops were full, and 

 their stomachs also well filled. Nevertheless, the 

 poor things were so exceedingly cold that they gave 

 hardly any distinguishable signs of life. 



" Now the question arises, what could be the reason 

 of this (at all events, to say the least of it,) invol- 

 untary abiding of the above-named young birds out- 

 side their nest ? The young cuckoo certainly could 

 not have caused it, as he was still much too young 

 for such a task ; the young pipits themselves could 

 not have got out of the nest, because it lay much too 

 deep down for them to have done so. There remains 

 only the theory that the parents (either those of the 

 pipits, or those of the cuckoo) must have done the 

 deed. Of the pipits, there can surely be no question ; 

 indeed, in my opinion, in the case before us, one can 

 lay the blame solely and entirely on the cuckoo, and, 

 indeed, on the female bird. 



" Again : not far from Darasun, where several 

 cuckoos had been killed a short time before, we 

 found, in the month of June, in a nest with a young 

 cuckoo, a young pipit, nearly full grown. The young 

 cuckoo could not yet leave the nest, nor did he even 

 know how to make his escape out of it, to get away 

 from us ; so he sat still in his place, and hissed at us ; 

 whilst the young pipit could already run, and was 



