30 LECTURE III. 



Dogs that have been ill-treated by a larger one 

 have been known to entice another to revenge 

 their cause. 



I will now tell you a little about the cuckoo 

 a bird, I am afraid, you seldom hear at 

 Brighton; but it arrives in this country early 

 in the spring, and its unvaried notes seem to 

 proclaim fine and pleasant weather. It is a lazy 

 bird ; for, instead of sitting on and rearing its 

 young, as all other birds do, it deposits its eggs, 

 but only one, in the nests of other birds, selecting 

 always those of insectivorous birds, that is, of 

 birds which feed their young only on insects : 

 these are generally robins, wag-tails, and hedge- 

 sparrows. Now, the cuckoo is as large as a 

 blackbird, and requires a great quantity of food, 

 It is evident, therefore, that if the parent robin, 

 &c., had to feed their own young as well as the 

 voracious cuckoo, some of them would be starved. 

 In order to prevent this, the latter is furnished 

 with a hollow in his back, in which he contrives 

 to get the newly-hatched robin or hedge-sparrow, 

 and then throws them out of the nest one by 

 one, remaining sole possessor of it. Having done 

 this, he is readily fed and brought up, though it 

 requires all the exertions of his foster-parents in 



