

The cuckoo selects a nest of the garden warbler for her egg 



The Vagrant Cuckoo 



WE all know the story of the cuckoo how it comes in 

 April " to tell its name to all the hills " ; how the female 

 lays an egg and drops it into some little bird's nest, 

 like a whitethroat's ; how the cuckoo's egg then 

 nearly matches the whitethroat's ; how in due time the 

 young cuckoo is hatched, and, when strong enough, 

 scoops up into the hollow of its back any other nest- 

 lings, or eggs, and throws them out ; how it then grows 

 and grows until it fills the whole nest, so that the poor 

 deluded foster-parents must work themselves nearly to 

 death to satisfy its monstrous appetite. 



Those who take a cuckoo's egg from a nest rob 

 themselves of the chance of witnessing all those 

 events, and reading again for themselves that strange 

 story. 



In appearance, the cuckoo looks something like a 

 bluish hawk, with a barred breast and a very long tail. 

 This is a bird of mystery still ; and anyone who comes 



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