358 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



requirements of two or three intruders. It has 

 been kindly arranged both for the foster-parent 

 and its charge, that its attentions should be gene- 

 rally confined to the supply of the wants of one 

 bird only. 



The following account of the actions of a red- 

 warbler, which had the misfortune to be selected 

 as the foster-parent of a cuckoo, will be read with 

 interest. "At the latter end of July, while 

 reading in my garden," says the observer, " I was 

 agreeably surprised to see a young cuckoo, nearly 

 full grown, alight on the railings not more than 

 a dozen yards from where I was sitting. Anxious 

 to see what bird had reared this cuckoo, I silently 

 watched his movements, and had not waited 

 more than a minute, when a red-warbler flew to 

 the cuckoo, who crouching down close to the 

 tail, and fluttering his wings, opened wide his 

 orange-coloured mouth to receive the insect his 

 foster-mother had brought him. This done, the 

 red-warbler flew away for a fresh supply of food. 

 The difference in the size of the two birds was 

 great ; it was like a pigmy feeding a giant While 

 the red-warbler was absent, the cuckoo shuffled 

 along the rail, and hopped upon a slender post to 



