CONCERNING THE CUCKOO 111 



pipets were found dead out of the nest. Mrs. 

 Blackburn continues : " The cuckoo was perfectly 

 naked, without the vestige of a feather, or even a 

 hint of future feathers ; its eyes were not yet opened, 

 and its neck seemed too weak to support the weight 

 of its head. . . . The most singular thing of all 

 was the direct purpose with which the blind little 

 monster made for the open side of the nest, the 

 only part where it could throw its burthen down 

 the bank. I think all the spectators felt the sort 

 of horror and awe at the apparent inadequacy of 

 the creature's intelligence to its acts that one might 

 have felt at seeing a toothless hag raise a ghost 

 by an incantation. It was horribly uncanny and 

 gruesome ! " 



In a nest which the writer had under observation, 

 t-he little cuckoo had put one of four hedge-sparrow's 

 eggs over the side on the second day of its existence. 

 In another nest under observation at the same time, 

 the young hedge-sparrows were hatched out so 

 long before that soon after the cuckoo was hatched 

 its nest mates were at least four times its size. 

 But at this stage the young cuckoo was seen to 

 put the hedge-sparrows, one after another, over 

 the side of the nest till it was the sole occupant. 

 No one who has not actually seen the process of 

 ejection of the other young birds can fully realize 

 the uncanniness and almost incredible purposiveness 

 of the whole series of actions. At the time when 

 the bird's instinct is at its maximum the young 

 cuckoo is only a few days old. It is blind and naked, 

 without the vestige of even the beginnings of a 

 feather, so that it presents the very image of weakness 

 and helplessness. Yet in such circumstances it 



