Mrs. Hoves' Blue Robin. 



183 



occasionally been recorded," Mr. Speedy goes on, 

 " of foster-mothers of cuckoos, in their wild state, 

 starving themselves to death in their devotion to supply 

 their gluttonous charge with food, when immediately 

 a bird, sometimes of another species, would commence 

 to provide for the young bird.'' These statements 

 have naturally been accepted with reserve, but the 

 case in point affords some corroboration of their 

 accuracy. 



YOUNG CUCKOO IN MEADOW-PIPIT'S NEST. 



Mrs. Hoyes wrote : 



" I don't know when I felt the loss of a pet more 

 than I do the dear devoted blue nurse, which we 

 found dead this morning. I do most thoroughly 

 believe that the poor wee bird starved itself to death 

 in trying to keep the cuckoo satisfied with food. I 

 have seen it pick up three meal worms at once, when 

 I threw it about a dozen, in the hope it might take 



