CUCULID.E. 131 



the period named, yet not a single nestling, even of the 

 earliest, would be fit to provide for itself before the parent 

 would be directed instinctively to seek a new residence, and 

 would thus be compelled to abandon its young. If these 

 considerations account for the peculiar habits of the Cuckoo, 

 how remarkable the provisions upon which the successful 

 issue of those habits depends ! That the egg of so large a 

 bird should be so otherwise disproportionately small, scarcely 

 exceeding in size those of the birds in whose nest it is de- 

 posited, and thus escaping detection, is a most marked ar- 

 rangement of an Allwise Creator ; for while the Cuckoo is 

 nearly as large as the male Sparrow-hawk, its egg scarcely, 

 if at all, exceeds in size that of the Skylark ; while, again, 

 the wisdom is no less manifest which directs it to select, for 

 the purpose of depositing its eggs, the nests of insect-feeding 

 birds, resembling in this respect the nature of its young. 

 The nests in which its eggs are most frequently deposited are 

 those of the Hedge Sparrow, Wagtail, and Titlark ; but many 

 others are occasionally chosen. The egg is, as just observed, 

 small, being about the size of the Skylark's, and not very dis- 

 similar in colour, but of a rounder form, though some of the 

 light varieties, Mr. Hewitson says, much resemble those of 

 the Pied Wagtail. The young Cuckoo ejects, as early as it 



