THE CUCK00. 169 



Cuckoos eggs hatched by hedge-sparrows. 



row at intervals, whilst she is sitting, not only 

 throws out some of her own eggs, but sometimes 

 injures them in such a way that they become 

 addle, so that it frequently happens that not 

 more than two or three of the parent4>ird's eggs 

 are hatched : but, what is very remarkable, it 

 has never been observed that she has either 

 thrown out or injured the egg of the cuckoo. 

 When the hedge-sparrow has sat her usual time, 

 and has disengaged the young cuckoo and some 

 of her own offspring from the shell, her own 

 young ones, and any of her eggs that remain 

 unhatched, are soon turned out; the young 

 cuckoo then remains in full possession of the 

 nest, and is the sole object of the future care of 

 the foster-parent. The } r oung birds are not pre- 

 viously killed, nor the eggs demolished; but 

 they are left to perish together, either entangled 

 in the bush that contains the nest, or lying on 

 the ground under it." 



Our author then proceeds to account for this 

 seemingly unnatural circumstance ; and, as what 

 he has advanced is the result of repeated obser- 

 vations, it cannot, we think, be unacceptable to 

 our readers. " On the 18th of June, 1787, I ex- 

 amined a nest of a hedge-sparrow, which then 

 contained a cuckoo's and three hedge-sparrow*9 

 eggs. On inspecting it the day following, the 

 bird had hatched ; but the nest then contained 

 only a young cuckoo and one young hedge- 

 sparrow. The nest was placed so near the extre- 



VOL. in, NO. xix. y 



