THE CUCKOO. 



Cuckoo in a Hedge Sparrow's Nest. 



The Cuckoo places its offspring entirely under the protection of foster parents, leaving it to them 

 to provide its food and to nourish it until it can shift for itself. Though this is not a pleasing trait 

 in the character of the Cuckoo, the young bird is far from being ill-provided for in the place which it has 

 usurped ; but turning out the nestlings from the home which really belongs to them, they soon perish, 

 while the intruder claims the services of the defrauded and bereaved parent birds, and thrives rapidly 

 under their unceasing exertions to supply it with food. The Cuckoo always deposits its eggs in the nest 

 of a bird which feeds upon insects. The nests of the Hedge Sparrow, the Reed Sparrow, the Titlark, the 

 Wagtail, the Yellow-hammer, and others have been selected ; and instances are mentioned of the nests of 

 the Linnet and White-throat having been the place of deposit ; but the greatest preference is shown to that 

 of the Hedge Sparrow. Dr. Jenner's well known paper in the "Philosophical Transactions" of the Royal 

 Society, 1788, threw great light upon this striking peculiarity ; but there is still much room for observation 

 on the habit. It seems doubtful whether or not the Cuckoo ever builds a nest of its own, but the general 

 belief is that it does not; and whether the Cuckoo deposits the egg from her body while actually sitting 

 upon the nest is equally a matter of doubt. For some time before the bird becomes independent of its 

 foster parents it procures some part of its subsistence by its own exertions. The young bird generally 

 continues in the nest three weeks before it flies, and it is fed more thai? five weeks after this period. 





