THE MODERN ART OF BIRDSNESTING 287 



partly lined with fragments of newspaper wadded into 

 the fabric. Some of these when taken out proved 

 to be part of the financial column of a daily paper, 

 which, when pieced together, were found to be from 

 the list of South-African Gold-Mining shares, in- 

 cluding some of the popular favourites, such as ' City 

 and Suburban/ * Croesus/ 'Crown Reef/ 'Durban 

 Roodsport/ ' Ferreira/ and ' Geldenhuis.' Those who 

 seek omens from birds may perhaps find a field for 

 conjecture in this ' selection ' by a hedge-sparrow, 

 near the White Horse Hill. Mr Kearton's picture 

 of a wagtail's nest containing a cuckoo egg shows 

 the former set in a bower of ivy leaves, growing on 

 a garden wall. It is a beautiful study, both from 

 the grace with which the leaves fall, and the contrast 

 of the nest with the dark background. Turning 

 from this to Mrs Blackburn's drawings, we find a 

 most interesting first-hand confirmation of an account 

 of the behaviour of the very young cuckoo, given 

 by Sir William Jenner in a letter to John Hunter in 

 1788. Jenner wrote that the 'little animal, with 

 the assistance of its rump and wings, contrived to 

 get the bird (a young hedge-sparrow) on its back, and 

 making a lodgment for it by elevating its elbows, 

 clambered back with it up the side of the nest till 

 it reached the top, where, resting for a moment, it 

 threw off its load with a jerk, and quite disengaged 



