246 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Our conviction is that the Cuckoo generally lays her 

 egg on the ground, and carries it in her bill to place 

 it in the nest she has selected, as we have before 

 stated when treating of the Reed-Warbler, and this 

 habit has, no doubt, led to the common belief that 

 the Cuckoo sucks the eggs of other birds, a tale of 

 which we have never been able to meet with any 

 authentic confirmation. The egg of this bird is, 

 comparatively speaking, small ; those which we have 

 personally found vary little, the ground-colour being 

 white, with a pretty close speckling of grey-brown, 

 occasionally very closely resembling those of the 

 Pied Wagtail in colour, but more elongated in form. 

 We have never met, except in the instance of the 

 last-named foster-parent, with a Cuckoo's egg which 

 could possibly be mistaken for one of those of the 

 rightful owners of the nest in which it was found, 

 but it would appear that many ornithologists maintain 

 that the Cuckoo has the power of occasionally assimi- 

 lating her eggs to those of the species in whose nest 

 she deposits them. There seems to be no doubt that 

 the young Cuckoo very soon after being hatched 

 ejects any other occupant of the nest ; very curious 

 details on this subject will be found in the edition 

 of Yarrell's * British Birds ' above cited, on the 

 authority of Edward Jenner and others : our own 

 experience goes to prove, at all events, that the 

 young interloper is invariably alone in his usurped 

 home a very few days after making his first ap- 

 pearance. The motive which induces small birds 

 of various species to mob and follow the Cuckoo 

 as they sometimes do is impossible to account for, 

 more particularly because it is by no means a constant 

 habit ; and if the resemblance in shape and manner of 



