52 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



The most wonderful thing about the young 

 cuckoo is, of course, its habit of pushing out 

 its bedfellows ; this is literally a blind instinct, 

 for the little cuckoo, like other birds that are 

 born helpless, has its eyes closed during the 

 first few days of its life, and yet it is at this 

 time that it empties the cradle of the real 

 owners. Its back is quite hollow at this 

 time of its life, and very sensitive ; if it feels 

 anything there it cannot help trying to push it 

 out backwards, and so the murder of the other 

 little birds is done unconsciously, so to speak. 



There is one comfort, they cannot suffer 

 very much, for naked little birds require a 

 great deal of warmth, and soon become in- 

 sensible and then die, when left out in the 

 cold, so that they do not die a slow death 

 from hunger. The old birds do not care a 

 bit what happens to them, for most birds 

 seem to think that if a young one can't keep 

 in bed it is not worth bothering about, and 

 they also usually give the food mostly to the 

 chick that squalls for it most. So it is really 

 quite natural that they should devote all 

 their care to the greedy young cuckoo, while 

 he is in the nest ; and by the time he has 



