ON BIRDS. 31 



order to supply his enormous appetite. There is 

 another curious fact connected with the cuckoo. 

 There was a small hole in the wall of my gar- 

 den, in which a robin had built its nest. Now, 

 it was quite impossible that a cuckoo could get 

 into it to lay its egg, and yet I found a young 

 cuckoo in it. She must, therefore have dropped 

 her egg on the ground near the hole, and either 

 taken it up in her mouth, or in her foot, and 

 placed it in the nest. 



Perhaps you are not aware that there is a 

 great difference between rooks and crows, al- 

 though it is very usual to call them all crows. 

 The rook feeds on worms, slugs, &c., and is 

 very useful to the farmer ; while the crow is not 

 only a great thief, but will kill, if he can, other 

 birds, in order to make them his prey. A gen- 

 tleman driving one day in his gig along a lane 

 in Shropshire, saw a house-pigeon pursued by 

 two carrion crows, so they are called from 

 eating carrion, as they were probably hungry, 

 and wanted the pigeon for food. The latter, 

 becoming exhausted, fled for refuge into a tall, 

 thorny hedge. One of the crows, however, 

 stationed himself above the pigeon, and the other 

 below it. They then got nearer and nearer to 



