CUCKOO NOTES 163 



poor little pair of birds who have slaved 

 for it will not follow him when the wander- 

 lust comes into his blood. The method of 

 cadging a meal is as extraordinary as it is 

 utterly callous. 



The cad will fly ten or twelve miles a 

 day in a southerly direction. At intervals 

 he cries in an infantile, screaming voice. 

 There is bound to be near a pair of birds 

 with young, and should they hear the cry, 

 they leave their own children and go and 

 feed the wide-mouthed impostor. No small 

 birds, with fledgelings, appear to be able 

 to resist the call. They go and feed him. 

 The fact that the young cuckoo bears a 

 resemblance to a kestrel hawk, both in 

 flight and colour, makes their charity all 

 the more mysterious. Down to the south 

 he wanders, his wings getting stronger 

 every day, until the time comes when the 

 sea shines in the distance, and his long 

 journey begins. And throughout the days 

 of his English stay, he lives on the foolish 



