ITS MANOEUVRES. 139 



The mode of accomplishing this action was 

 very curious. The little bird by various ma- 

 noeuvres contrived to get the sparrow on its 

 back, where making a sort of lodgment for it, it 

 clambered up the side of the nest till it reached 

 the top, where, resting for a moment, it threw off 

 its load with a jerk, and quite disengaged it from 

 the nest. It remained in this situation a short 

 time, and appeared to feel about with its wings 

 whether the business had been properly executed, 

 and then dropped into the nest again. With the 

 extremities of its wings the young cuckoo was 

 often seen by this patient observer to examine 

 an egg or a nestling, before it began its work 

 of ejection. A number of experiments were 

 made on different nests, and eggs were often in- 

 troduced artificially ; but the result Avas uniformly 

 the same. Sometimes the ejector drops its bur- 

 then, and then has to begin all over again, with 

 wonderful perseverance, until it has effected its 

 object. 



It is remarkable that the disposition for turning 

 out its companions begins to decline from the time 

 it is two or three, until it is about twelve days old, 

 when it appears to be lost. The disposition to 



