60 A YOUNG CUCKOO 



a public way, and I feared that the bird's excursions 

 might lead to its detection, I was at pains upon 

 leaving always to place it in the nest in the hollow, 

 cover it up with the herbage, darken the hole with 

 my cap for a while, then quickly slip down the 

 slope ere my presence could provoke it to fresh 

 extravagance; but as often as not I had barely sunk 

 from view when the bird would rush forward on to 

 the platform before the nest, and swaying on 

 unsteady legs, snap after me upon the air with futile 

 wrath. 



When I found the Cuckoo the sheaths of some of 

 the feathers were still unshed, the slaty black skin 

 of the belly, nape and centre of the back was still 

 bare, and the eyes had a peculiar bluish haze over 

 them like that which appears upon the eyes of an 

 animal just dead. Indeed, the sight appeared still 

 to be imperfect ; for, if I touched one side of the 

 nest and passed my hand rapidly to the other side, 

 the bird responded by attacking the first rather than 

 the second position. It was not possible to discover 

 if it specially resented irritation of the naked portion 

 of the back, because it resented alike the touching 

 of any part. 



Upon visiting the nest the following day I found 

 that the three ejected eggs had been removed, 

 presumably by the old birds. Seeing that the young 

 Cuckoo was about ten days old at the time (it could 

 fly a week later), the eggs had probably lain before 

 the nest for a week previously. Why should the 

 birds hasten to remove them upon my discovery 

 of the nest ? Many birds are punctilious in the 

 removal of egg shell from the neighbourhood of the 



