ANIMALS OF TO-DAY 139 



reluctantly we let it off. Away it flew, and soon 

 we heard its joyful if slightly monotonous old 

 familiar song in the distant wood. 



I gather from Mr. Dewar that the great Doctor 

 Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination for the cure 

 of smallpox, was an observant ornithologist. He 

 made a note of the fact that he had seen " a young 

 cuckoo just hatched and quite blind thrust out 

 both a young bird and an egg which were the 

 rightful occupants of the usurped nest." 



Jenner's story has not been accepted by all 

 naturalists. Waterton poured contemptuous ridicule 

 upon it. Whether a few-hours-old cuckoo could 

 get the bird upon its back, climb up and throw it 

 overboard or not may be still open to question ; 

 but the fact that cuckoos do deposit their eggs 

 in the nests of other birds has long been settled. 

 Gilbert White has much to say on the subject. 

 Mr. Dewar himself gives an interesting account 

 of his discovery of a " hideous young bird, naked, 

 blind, and glistening as though it had been 

 polished," in a wren's nest, out of which the 

 wren's eggs had been ejected, three of which were 

 found on the ground. He concluded that this 

 feeble, helpless log could not possibly have ejected 

 the eggs, and that they must have been thrown 

 out by the wrens themselves, or by the old cuckoo. 



What will, of course, be of special interest to 

 anglers, is the chapter on Angling in Hampshire, 

 chiefly on the Test and its tributaries, a chapter 

 of pleasant experiences, interesting theories, and 



