BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 159 



them all their time to feed the Cuckoo alone when 

 it is nearly ready for leaving the nest. 



Why, then, it may be asked, do not the Cuckoos 

 rear their broods themselves as their foreign 



YOUNG CUCKOO DISDAINING THE PHOTOGRAPHER. 



relatives do, and as they themselves undoubtedly 

 did at one time ? To this question I fear there 

 can be no satisfactory answer. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, the Cuckoo lays her egg in the wrong nest, 

 and instances are on record of an egg being laid in 

 a Carrion Crow's nest, and (when the young birds 



