MAY 87 



ceases so soon as the foreign egg is laid. They show 

 philosophic indifference to the fate of their own off- 

 spring, bestowing their whole care on the nourishment 

 and welfare of the youthful parasite. One of the films 

 shows how the young cuckoo, having hoisted one of its 

 foster-brothers upon its back, succeeded in raising it 

 over the edge of the nest, where it remained caught 

 upon a twig. The mother pipit returning, replaced 

 her own young one in the nest, fed it and the young 

 cuckoo, and then brooded both together. So soon as 

 she flew off to fetch more food, the crafty alien resumed 

 his villainy, and cast out not only the nestling that had 

 been replaced in the nursery, but another foster-brother 

 as well. He then had the whole nest to himself, and 

 monopolised the attention of his foster-parents. 



Mr. Chance must be warmly congratulated upon the 

 success which has crowned his skill and patience in 

 elucidating all the details of this sinister drama. The 

 cuckoo which he ascertained to have laid twenty eggs 

 in a single season must have been the direct agent in 

 the untimely death of between sixty and eighty young 

 pipits and titlarks. 



XX 



In some of the statements professing discrimination 

 between birds injurious to agriculture and The 

 horticulture and those which are beneficial, Chaffinch 

 the chaffinch is placed in the black list. Now to the 

 character of most of the small birds frequenting our 

 gardens (the robin, the wren, the goldfinch, and all the 

 warblers excepted) one may justly apply the sage 



