THE CUCKOO 113 



one. Eggs produced at different times by the same 

 Cuckoo vary very much in size. I have found one 

 that weighed only forty-three grains, and another that 

 weighed fifty-five grains. The colour is extremely 

 variable : some, both in ground and pencilling, very 

 much resemble the House-sparrow's ; some are in- 

 distinctly covered with bran-coloured spots ; and 

 others are marked with lines of black, resembling in 

 some measure the eggs of the Yellow-hammer. 



" The circumstance of the young Cuckoo's being 

 destined by nature to throw out the young Hedge- 

 sparrows, seems to account for the parent-Cuckoo's 

 dropping her egg in the nest of Birds so small as 

 those I have particularised. If she were to do this in the 

 nest of a Bird which produced a large egg, and con- 

 sequently a large nestling, the young Cuckoo would 

 probably be unable to throw out the young Birds. I 

 have known a case in which a Hedge-sparrow sat 

 upon a Cuckoo's egg and one of her own. Her own 

 egg was hatched five days before the Cuckoo's, and 

 the young Hedge-sparrow gained such a superiority 

 in size that the Cuckoo was unable to lift it out of the 

 nest till the Cuckoo was two days old. 



" It appears a little extraordinary that two Cuckoos' 

 eggs should ever be deposited in the same nest, as the 

 young one produced from one of them must inevitably 

 perish ; yet I have known two instances of this kind, 

 one of which I shall relate. 



"June 27, 1787. Two Cuckoos and a Hedge- 

 sparrow were hatched in the same nest this morning ; 

 one Hedge-sparrow's egg remained unhatched. A 

 few hours after a contest began between the Cuckoos, 



I 



