THE CUCKOO 



estimate of its attitude and admit that it 

 does the best it can by its offspring in putting 

 them out to nurse. This habit, unique among 

 British birds, is practised by many others 

 elsewhere, and in particular by the American 

 troupials, or cattle-starlings. One of these 

 indeed goes even farther, since it entrusts its 

 eggs to the care of a nest-building cousin. 

 There are also American cuckoos that build 

 their own nest and incubate their own eggs. 



On the whole, our cuckoo is a friend to the 

 farmer, for it destroys vast quantities of 

 hairy caterpillars that no other bird, resident 

 or migratory, would touch. On the other 

 hand, no doubt, the numbers of other small 

 useful birds must suffer, not alone because 

 the cuckoo sucks their eggs, but also because, 

 as has been shown, the rearing of every young 

 cuckoo means the destruction of the legiti- 

 mate occupants of the nest. So far however 

 as the farmer is concerned, this is probably 

 balanced by the reflection that a single 

 young cuckoo is so rapacious as to need all 

 the insect food available. 



The cuckoo, like the woodcock, is supposed 

 to have its forerunner. Just as the small 

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