12 The Early Life of the Young' Cuckoo. 



cidents took place, Mr. Craig found another Cuckoo's 

 egg in a Meadow Pipit's nest, and this bird ejected 

 all the four Pipit's eggs, one of them being thrown 

 out when the bird was not twenty-four hours old. 

 One of the photographs taken and here reproduced 

 illustrates the young Cuckoo with the egg in the 

 hollow of its back in the very act of throwing it 

 out of the nest. 



In conclusion, I may state that the young Cuckoo 

 has a depression on the back, w^hich gives a more 

 secure lodgment to the young bird or Qgg it wishes 

 to eject, and the back is broad considering the size 

 of the bird. It makes considerable use of its wings 

 in steadying the bird on its back, and to prevent it 

 from rolling back into the nest again, as well as in 

 examining, as it were, a bird or an egg in the nest. 



