54 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



titlark's or the wagtail's, it is not at all like 

 the robin's or the hedge-sparrow's, which are 

 also favourite foster-birds with it. 



Then it has also been suggested that the 

 same cuckoo sticks to the same sort of nest to 

 put her eggs in, and even that she hands down 

 the custom to her daughters ; according to 

 this idea a hen cuckoo which had been reared 

 in a hedge-sparrow's nest would make a habit 

 of putting her own eggs there ; but this 

 would be very hard to prove, and in some 

 cases the cuckoo's egg has been found in nests 

 of birds which certainly could not rear a 

 young cuckoo even the wood-pigeon's and 

 the dabchick's so that it would seem that 

 even if a cuckoo does prefer some particular 

 bird's nest, she will in case of need put her egg 

 in any nest she can get at. 



The egg is usually laid on the ground, and 

 the cuckoo then takes it in her mouth and 

 places it in the nest ; this, and the young 

 cuckoo's habit of turning out his bed-fellows 

 are the most wonderful parts of the whole 

 history of the cuckoo, for the mere going to 

 another bird's nest and laying in it would not 

 be so very remarkable, for birds often lay in 



