264 THE REASON WHY : 



Since the cuckoo builds not for himself, 

 Remain in't as thou may'st." SHAKSPERE. 



young cuckoos can be reared. Whilst the aliment upon which the 

 blackbird and the thrush usually subsist is not proper, and in 

 some respects would be injurious. 



824. When the cuckoo is hatched 

 previously to the offspring of its fos- 

 ter-parent, it throws the unhatched 

 eggs out of the nest by means of 

 its broad and depressed beak. It 

 visits its lay companions with the 

 same treatment ; and, admitting no 

 rival, monopolises all the room and 

 all the food to itself; and such 

 is the voracity of this bird, that 

 the most untiring zeal and labour of 

 the foster-parent are scarcely able to 

 satisfy the cravings of the intruder. 



825. Why does the cuckoo deposit her eggs in the nests of other 

 birds with her foot ? 



Because if the cuckoo sat upon the adopted nest while laying 

 the egg, the weight of its body would derange the nest, 

 and cause it to be forsaken ; thus defeating one of the ends 

 of Providence. 



826. Why do injuries so frequently occur to the eggs of those 

 birds in whose nests cuckoos lay ? 



These accidents are chiefly owing to the setting bird attempting 

 to accommodate herself to eggs of different sizes. 



If comparatively large and small eggs are placed in the same 

 nest, some of the smaller ones are generally thrown out, or rendered 

 addle, by the hen bird endeavouring to arrange them so that she 

 may distribute nearly an equal degree of warmth and pressure to 

 all : but the larger ones, which chiefly sustain her weight, and 

 jonsequently are less liable to be moved, usually remain uninjured. 



