158 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



shot with eggs in their bills. An extraordinary 

 thing, when the size of the bird is taken into con- 

 sideration, is the smallness of the Cuckoo's egg. 

 When laid in a Meadow Pipit's nest, it can scarcely 

 be distinguished from those of the rightful owner, 

 so alike are they in size and markings. 



Last June I came upon a Heather Lintie's nest 

 containing four lawful eggs and one Cuckoo's. I 

 half thought of taking the one laid by the Cuckoo, 

 but in the end left it to be hatched out. A fort- 

 night later on I found the young Cuckoo, only a 

 day or so old ; but even by that time he had pitched 

 out the rightful occupants of the nest, which were 

 lying stark and stiff within an inch or two of 

 their rightful dwelling, while the ugly black little 

 villain was in sole possession. Even at that early 

 period of his life he strongly resented my taking 

 him up to look at him, opening his bill wide with 

 rage. 



As the Cuckoo is so very young when it throws 

 out the other occupants of the nest, it is probably 

 due to instinct, and not to premeditated wickedness, 

 that it treats its fellow-nestlings so callously. But 

 perhaps the strangest thing of all is the indifference 

 of the parent birds to the fate of their offspring ; 

 for they will not make the slightest attempt to 

 replace their young in the nest when they have 

 been thrown out, but will devote their whole atten- 

 tion to the alien, while their own children slowly 

 perish outside. 



This at first sight seems to be a terrible state of 

 affairs, but it is really only the wonderful provision 

 of nature ; for if the foster parents had their own 

 brood to feed as well as the Cuckoo, the food they 

 provided would not be sufficient for all, as it takes 



