THE CUCKOO. 233 



authority, it will not be superfluous to glance, 

 very briefly at what had already been advanced 

 in support of the statement referred to. 



Dr. Jenner says positively ("Phil. Trans." vol. 

 Ixxviii. p. 225) : " I discovered the young 

 Cuckoo, though so newly hatched, in the act of 

 turning out the young Hedge-Sparrow. The 

 little animal, with the assistance of its rump and 

 wings, contrived to get the bird upon its back, 

 and making a lodgement for its burden by ele- 

 vating its elbows, clambered backwards with it 

 up the side of the nest till it reached the top, 

 where, resting for a moment, it threw off its load 

 with a jerk, and quite disengaged it from the 

 nest. It remained in the situation for a short 

 time, feeling about with the extremities of its 

 wings, as if to be convinced whether the business 

 was properly executed, and then dropped into 

 the nest again." 



Montagu, in the Introduction to his "Ornitho- 

 logical Dictionary," states that he took home a 

 young Cuckoo five or six days old, when, to use 

 his own words : " I frequently saw it throw out 

 a young Swallow (which was put in for the pur- 



