THE CUCKOO. 321 



these instances, the position and structure of the nest 

 were such that a bird of so large a size could not possibly 

 have laid an egg in the usual way. Hence, and from 

 other evidence, it is pretty clear that the egg is in all cases 

 laid at a distance from the nest and carried by the bird 

 in her bill to its destination. The bird can have no diffi- 

 culty in accomplishing this seemingly hard task ; for the 

 gape of the Cuckoo is wide, and the egg disproportionately 

 small, no larger in fact than the egg of the Skylark, a bird 

 only a fourth of its size. The period during which a nest 

 is fit for the reception of a Cuckoo's egg is short ; if a time 

 were chosen between the completion of the nest and the 

 laying of the first egg by the rightful owner, the Cuckoo 

 could have no security that her egg would receive in- 

 cubation in good time, and again if the hen were sitting 

 there would be no possibility of introducing her egg sur- 

 reptitiously. She accordingly searches for a nest in which 

 one egg or more is laid, and in tne absence of the owner 

 lays down her burden and departs. There are certain 

 grave suspicions that "the intruder sometimes makes room 

 for her own egg by destroying those already laid; but 

 this, if it be true, is exceptional. We see now the 

 reason why the egg of the Cuckoo is small. If it were 

 very much larger than the rest, it might excite suspicion, 

 and be either turned out, or be the cause of the nest being 

 deserted; it would require moreover a longer incubation 

 than the rest, and would either fail to be hatched, or 

 produce a young Cuckoo at a time when his foster-brothers 

 had grown strong enough to thwart his evil designs. As 

 it is, after fourteen days' incubation, the eggs are hatched 

 simultaneously, or nearly so, the Cuckoo being generally 

 the first. No sooner does the young bird see the day, 

 than he proceeds to secure for himself the whole space of 

 the nest and the sole attention of his foster-parents, by 

 insinuating himself under the other young birds and any 

 eggs which may remain unhatched, and hurling them over 



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