reared in the same Nest. 529 



avoided him, and the alarm was taken up by other Swallows, 

 wlio mobbed him as they do a Hawk ; he flew first into a 

 wellingtonia, followed by a dozen Swallows, then back again 

 over the shed into a large oak, where he sat forty feet up, 

 still followed by screaming Swallows. Soon after he flew 

 down, into the kitchen garden, where Blackbirds and Thrushes 

 became noisy and surrounded him, the Thrushes staring in- 

 quisitively, the Blackbirds settling above on the wall and 

 keeping up that note of warning which they always raise 

 against a suspected intruder. After that he came and sat upon 

 a garden frame, opposite his native shed, where I was ob- 

 serving the parent birds, and I had an opportunity of watching 

 what took place at a distance of three or four yards. The 

 two old Swallows made frequent dashes at him, approaching 

 first in front and then in the rear, and turning oif when 

 within three or four inches of him, making him start every 

 time. (Certain pairs of Swallows in my garden always year 

 after year assail me in the same way if I pass near their nest, 

 coming so close to my face that I can often feel the waft of 

 their wings, and making an audible snap with their beaks when 

 at the nearest point.) From time to time one would fly into 

 the shed and go up to the nest as if to satisfy itself that its 

 remaining little one was still safe. After half an hour of this 

 I felt some compassion for the young Cuckoo, and, catching 

 two or three insects, I went to feed him ; but he would not 

 let me come close, but again flew about fifty yards into a 

 clump of thinly furnished spruce, where he sat on a branch 

 about twelve feet from the ground, uttering his querulous 

 chirp incessantly. The Blackbirds discovered him and be- 

 came noisy again. It was now nearly 1 o^ clock and I left him, 

 and never saw him afterwards. I went round the garden 

 to search for it two or three times that afternoon and the 

 next day, and though I should easily have recognized his note, 

 even if the birds had not attracted me by their excitement, I 

 could not find him, nor did my gardener, who was constantly 

 about, see anything of him ; whether, when he found that 

 it did not answer to pose as a starving beggar, he determined 

 to work for a livelihood and succeeded, I cannot tell. He 



