82 IN A CHESHIRE GARDEN 



a wire fence on the opposite bank. At first 

 it sat in a floppy kind of way, with its wings 

 hanging down on either side, as if to keep its 

 balance, but the next day it seemed to have 

 gained strength and sat up better. The little 

 pipit (if it was always the same, and I never 

 saw more than one at once) was not away for 

 more than a minute or two, except on the 

 third day, when it was pouring wet and food 

 seemed harder to find. As soon as the 

 cuckoo knew that its nurse was coming it 

 began opening its mouth and quivering its 

 wings, while the poor little dupe that brought 

 the food would alight a short distance off and 

 run along the wire to its side, then, looking 

 ridiculously small for the job, it would 

 manage to pop something into its mouth, not 

 all in one go, but in two or three. It was 

 curious to notice that every time after being 

 fed the ungrateful cuckoo gave spiteful pecks 

 at the poor deluded little slave who was 

 working so hard to supply its wants. 



One day in May (1908) a cuckoo alighted 

 on a tree close to the house, attended by two 

 small birds. He seemed rather uneasy in 

 their company, and kept looking suspiciously 

 at them; they, I fancy, were trying to make 

 up their minds to attack him, but they let " I 

 dare not " wait so long upon " I would " that 

 he went off unmolested. 



Barn owls are comparatively common. 

 Farmers are learning to understand better 



