YELLOW BUNTING. 133 



tells a pleasant story of this same Yellow Hammer and 

 a young Cuckoo, which is well worth recounting : 



" The Cuckoo was fully fledged, and old enough to 

 sit upon the perch. It was at first very shy, and, 

 although constantly crying for food, would not take 

 anything that was offered to it, and appeared entirely 

 incapable of feeding itself. We tried many devices, 

 such as fastening a bird's skin with wings extended 

 upon a quill, and then putting a piece of meat upon the 

 point of the quill, which was made to project beyond the 

 beak of the bird. This stratagem, which is sometimes 

 successful with young birds that will not open their 

 mouths to a human nurse, succeeded, and our Cuckoo 

 was now quite willing to open its mouth oftener than 

 we were willing to be at the trouble of waiting upon it. 

 One morning when we were tired of supplying the 

 insatiable voracity of this never-satisfied bird, and had 

 suffered it to cry for food for some little time without 

 attending to it, we heard it utter, on a sudden, an extra- 

 ordinary gobbling note of satisfaction, and, on looking up 

 hastily, saw it in the act, as we thought, of devouring the 

 Yellow Bunting, whose small golden head was already 

 entirely within the red, cavernous jaws of the Cuckoo. 

 The head, however, emerged in safety, and the little bird 

 then picked up a piece of meat, and returned to the 

 Cuckoo. Again the golden head disappeared in the 

 cavern, and again the gobbling note was repeated. It 

 was now evident that the wonderful instinct of the 

 little bird was roused by the hungry cries of the young 

 monster, and that it was busily employed in supplying 

 it with food. Our task was, therefore, at an end, and 

 we continued to admire for several weeks the unremit- 



