CHAPTER IV 



BIRDS THAT ARE BOARDED OUT 



THE history of birds which begin their lives 

 as boarders in the nests of other kinds is a 

 particularly interesting one, and especially so 

 as it is not nearly yet understood altogether, 

 although one or other kind of these " para- 

 sitic " birds is found in every large country 

 in the world, and many countries have more 

 than one. 



Far the most celebrated is, of course, our 

 own welcome spring visitor the cuckoo, who 

 is such a familiar bird all over Europe that 

 it is not surprising that the circumstances of 

 his disreputable youth were well known even 

 to the ancient Greeks and Romans, while 

 our own poets, even as far back as Chaucer, 

 naturally mention the subject. 



Indeed, the old writers were so much im- 

 pressed with the wickedness of the young 



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