COMMON CUCKOO. 199 



its companions begins to decline from the time it is two or 

 three till it is about twelve days old, when, as far as I have 

 hitherto seen, it ceases. Indeed, the disposition for throw- 

 ing out the eggs appears to cease a few days sooner ; for I 

 have frequently seen the young Cuckoo, after it had been 

 hatched nine or ten days, remove a nestling that had been 

 placed in the nest with it, when it suffered an egg, put 

 there at the same time, to remain unmolested. The sin- 

 gularity of its shape is well adapted to these purposes ; for, 

 different from other newly-hatched birds, its back from the 

 shoulders downwards is very broad, with a considerable 

 depression in the middle. This depression seems formed 

 by nature for the design of giving a more secure lodge- 

 ment to an egg, or a young bird, when the young Cuckoo 

 is employed in removing either of them from the nest. 

 When it is about twelve days old, this cavity is quite 

 filled up, and then the back assumes the shape of nestling 

 birds in general." The substances found in the stomach of 

 young Cuckoos are various, depending upon the species of 

 bird by which they are fed. They consist of flies, beetles, 

 caterpillars, grasshoppers, and small snails. When fed by 

 any of the Finches, which are rather vegetable feeders, 

 they are supplied with young wheat, small vetches, tender 

 shoots of grass, and seeds. Adult Cuckoos seem most par- 

 tial to hairy caterpillars. The young are frequently found 

 in a nest in a hedge-row by their almost incessant querulous 

 note, which appears to be a call for food ; and they are 

 voracious feeders. The young are sometimes, by great 

 care, kept alive in confinement over their first winter, 

 but seldom survive long afterwards. The best food for 

 them is raw beef chopped small, and mixed with yelk of 



e gg- 



" To what cause then," says Dr. Jenner, " may we attri- 

 bute the singularities of the Cuckoo ? May they not be 



