NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS. 



FOSTER-MOTHER TREE PIPIT 



get beneath whatever else is in the nest 

 in which it has been hatched, and when 

 it gets an egg or chick upon its back, 

 with raised wings, head depressed, and 

 a foot firmly 

 planted on either 

 side of the nest, 

 it rears its burden 

 and casts it out. 



This wonderful per- 

 formance was first ob- 

 served by the great 

 Dr. Jenner of vacci- 

 nation fame, and 

 afterwards confirmed 

 by the observations and 

 wonderfully accurate pictures made by 

 my friend Mrs. Blackburn. Curiously 

 enough, her daughter, Miss Blackburn, 

 found the Meadow Pipit's nest from 

 which her mother saw the rightful owners 

 ejected by the young Cuckoo and also 

 the nest belonging to the same species 

 figured on page 3 of this work. 



Sometimes two young Cuckoos are 

 hatched out in the same nest, and then a 

 great struggle takes place between them 

 for possession. 



Very odd things occasionally occur in 

 regard to Cuckoo's eggs. I have found 



IO 



