THE CUCKOO. 83 



have the advantage, as each carried the other several 

 times to the top of the nest, and then sunk down again, 

 oppressed by the weight of its burden ; till, at length, 

 after various efforts, the strongest prevailed, and was 

 afterwards brought up by the hedge-sparrows. 



" It is wonderful to see the extraordinary exertions of 

 the young cuckoo, when it is two or three days old, if 

 a bird be put into the nest with it that is too weighty 

 for it to lift out. In this state it seems ever restless 

 and uneasy. But this disposition for turning out its 

 companions begins to decline from the time it is two or 

 three till it is about twelve days old, when, as far as I 

 have hitherto seen, it ceases. Indeed, the disposition 

 for throwing out the egg appears to cease in a few days 

 sooner ; for I have frequently seen the young cuckoo, 

 after it had been hatched nine or ten days, remove a 

 nestling that had been placed in the nest with it, when 

 it suffered an egg, put there at the same time, to remain 

 unmolested. The singularity of its shape is well adapted 

 to these purposes ; for, different from other birds, its 

 back from the shoulders downwards is very broad, with 

 a considerable depression in the middle. This depres- 

 sion seems foraied by nature for the design of giving 

 a more secure lodgment to an egg, or a young bird, 

 when the young cuckoo is employed in removing either 



