162 CUCKOO NOTES 



tragedy, taken the four eggs away, and 

 placed instead an egg of a robin or a thrush, 

 it is practically certain that it would have 

 been ignored. Both parent birds were 

 near when the female cuckoo was laying 

 her egg, and kept flying round the nest, 

 accompanied by a robin who may have 

 been, like myself, a curious spectator in 

 this domestic affair. 



Five weeks afterwards the young cuckoo 

 was many times the size of his wretched 

 foster parents, and throughout the long 

 days of June they worked in the hedges, 

 seeking caterpillars, grubs, and spiders for 

 their querulous nestling. 



The migration of the young cuckoo in 

 August is helped by a most interesting 

 series of ingenious frauds. The old cuckoos 

 depart for the south in July, and the younger 

 birds making their way independently, day 

 by day, are directed only by instinct. But 

 the baby cannot feed itself (or probably 

 will not, being a born parasite), and the 



