reared in the same Nest. 527 



to see the infant prodigy, which was now feathered all over 

 and very fierce, rising up and drawing himself back so as to 

 get a good strike at the intruders. He quite filled the nest, 

 and besides pecking savagely, he opened his wings and 

 stamped his feet about, apparently not from any ill-will to 

 his foster-brother, who, however, did not seem to like such 

 rough behaviour. 



On coming the next morning my gardener found that the 

 Blackbird ^s nest, which had been carelessly replaced on the 

 narrow lath, had fallen six feet to the ground and was lying 

 bottom upwards. The Cuckoo was sitting by the side of it, 

 but the Swallow was beneath it ; neither seemed any the 

 worse. A broader piece of board was substituted, and a 

 prop jDut on each side of the nest, as the Cuckoo now often 

 stood up, and, being big and heavy, might easily overbalance 

 it. Twice on that day I found four Swallows in the shed, 

 and, as there was no other nest there in use, I wondered 

 whether the additional pair had been called in to help in the 

 feeding ; it did not prove to be so ; still I think their 

 presence was not accidental, but that they had been invited 

 in by the parent birds. 



The feedings now became more frequent, and I counted 

 seven visits i-n ten minutes ; both young ones were making 

 satisfactory progress, the Cuckoo always fluttering and 

 striking when approached or handled, but the little Swallow 

 remaining quiet and crouching in the bottom of the nest ; 

 it sometimes tried to avoid being trampled upon by clinging 

 to the inside of the nest, with its head over the edge, but it 

 had a rough time of it. 



At 9 o'clock in the evening of the 2nd of July, and 

 about the same time on one or two subsequent days, when 

 Swallows had ceased to fly, the old birds were not at the nest 

 or in the shed, and I still wonder where they passed the night. 

 The young Swallow, however, was at that time uppermost in 

 the nest, lying on the Cuckoo's wing, and if there had been 

 any disposition to eject him it could have been done with the 

 greatest ease. The two little Swallows first found, or rather 

 the eggs which produced them, had probably been saved fronj 



2 n2 



