THE BIRDS. 



537 



fed in the most affectionate manner by a very little bird, in the nest of 

 which.it was reared. In the year 1871, a young cuckoo was caught at 

 my garden and placed in the Poor Man's house. The foster-mother, 

 a sedge-warbler, found it out, and came into the house and fed it 



FIG. 1152. Cuckoo, Jth nat. size. 



FIG. 1153. Nuthatch. 



regularly, till one day the cuckoo contrived to escape through a broken 

 pane of glass, and was no more seen. It was strange to see so small 

 a foster-mother rearing so large a foster-child, and to be seemingly so 



fond of it. 



" O blithe new-comer ! I have heard, 



I hear thee, and rejoice : 

 O cuckoo ! shall I call thee bird, 



Or but a wandering Voice?" WORDSWORTH. 



Mr. Harting, in his charming book on "The Birds of Shak- 

 speare," states that the oldest sample of English secular music pre- 

 served amongst the Harleian MSS. (No. 978) thus notices the 

 cuckoo : 



Murie sing, Cuccu ! 

 Cuccu ! cuccu ! 

 Well singes thu, Cuccu ! 

 Ne swih thu naver nu." 



(Merrily sing, Cuckoo ! 

 Cuckoo ! Cuckoo ! 

 Well singest thou, Cuckoo ! 

 Mayest thou never cease.) 



The Nuthatch (Sitta eiwopcea, fig. 1153) has been shot in Bed- 

 dington Park, but, owing to its active and shy habits, is not often seen. 

 This bird is able to traverse the trunks of trees, not only upwards, 



