THROUGH THE YEAR 75 



squeak for food is not the least likeness. Many 

 nestlings' cries may be wholly unlike the note of 

 the grown-up bird of their kind. But here, in the 

 cuckoo, is a young bird that has left the nest and is 

 almost full grown. 



Its flight is full feathered. Though it rarely 

 moves far from its haunt till it has found that it 

 can feed itself better than its foster parents feed 

 it, it can fly strongly. It is swift on the wing, and 

 glides and skims like a hawk. It is easy to under- 

 stand that in a few weeks' time the young cuckoo 

 will fly to Africa with perfect ease. The cuckoo 

 looks full equipped for a long journey a fortnight or 

 so after it has left the nest and is still being fed ; 

 the corncrake never looks equipped for even a short 

 aerial journey. 



The cuckoo nursed by the redbreasts sat on a 

 leafless lower limb of an oak tree in the pit. It 

 flew off when it caught sight of me, and was too 

 wary to return whilst I waited. But I thought that 

 if I went away for half an hour and returned I should 

 find it back on its oak. Sure enough, half an hour 

 later I found it on the same perch and being fed by 

 the redbreast. It soon caught sight of me and swung 

 off again into the wood. 



I have seen enough of young cuckoos to know 

 that it is their fixed habit, after leaving the nest, to 

 post themselves on a bare limb or a railing,where their 

 foster parents cannot miss them, and from which 

 they can keep a sharp outlook against foes. I believe 

 the young cuckoo only perches in the leafier parts of 



