266 THE CUCKOO. 



in which it was placed, and its unnatural size would, moreover, 

 in all probability, frighten the lesser foster-mother, and induce 

 her to desert her own nest ; but a Cuckoo's egg is remarkably 

 small, and therefore can be laid, without exciting suspicion, in 

 the midst of others, of a naturally small size. In the next 

 place, it is known that the young Cuckoo always contrives to 

 make room for its increasing size, by throwing the other nest- 

 lings out of the nest ; but were it of the usual form with other 

 birds, it would find great difficulty in accomplishing this. 

 Nature, however, lends a helping hand, and has given it a 

 remarkable depression or hollow between its shoulders, into 

 which, by an odd sort of jerk, it contrives to lift the young 

 birds, and then shuffling backwards to the edge of the nest, 

 throws them over. The hollow, however, only remains for a 

 certain time, and then fills up ; and it is an extraordinary fact 

 that if the young birds are designedly kept in the nest till the 

 hollow is filled up, the young Cuckoo, as if aware that it has 

 no longer the power to get rid of them, allows them to remain 

 unmolested. 



