THE CUCKOO 
estimate of ite attitude and admit that it 
does the best it can by its offspring in putting 
them out to nurse. This habit, unique among 
British birds, is practised by many others 
elsewhere, and in particular by the American 
troupials, or cattle-starlings. One of these 
indeed goes even farther, since it entrusts its 
eggs to the care of a nest-building cousin. 
There are also American cuckoos that build 
their own nest and incubate their own eggs. 
On the whole, our cuckoo is a friend to the 
farmer, for it destroys vast quantities of 
hairy caterpillars that no other bird, resident 
or migratory, would touch. On the other 
hand, no doubt, the numbers of other small 
useful birds must suffer, not alone because 
the cuckoo sucks their eggs, but also because, 
as has been shown, the rearing of every young 
cuckoo means the destruction of the legiti- 
mate occupants of the nest. So far however 
as the farmer is concerned, this is probably 
balanced by the reflection that a single 
young cuckoo is so rapacious as to need all 
the insect food available. 
The cuckoo, like the woodcock, is supposed 
to have its forerunner. Just as the small 
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