THE CUCKOO. 33 



life. He is guided by maxims. Of these the chiefest 

 declares that it is folly to do yourself that which you can 

 make others do equally well for you. " Why should we," 

 say the wily cuckoos, " hatch our own eggs and feed and 

 rear up our young when we can get other stupid birds to 

 do both for us ? " 



In order to live up to this maxim the cuckoo has to lay 

 its eggs in the nest of another bird. This is no child's 

 play, considering that at the laying season all birds are 

 busy near their nests. The cuckoo has, however, several 

 ways of surmounting this difficulty. One method is ex- 

 ceedingly simple. It is to go up to some smaller bird, 

 such as the pipit, and drive it off its nest, then to drop into 

 the nest its own eggs while the unfortunate victim looks 

 helplessly on screaming. This, however, is a rough and 

 unskilled procedure, quite unworthy of an accomplished 

 villain such as the cuckoo, hence it is not very commonly 

 practised. 



A more favourite method is for the cuckoo to mimic the 

 appearance of the bird in whose nest it intends to lay its 

 egg. Thus the black cuckoo of this country very closely 

 resembles the drongo. The counterfeit is so good that the 

 drongo itself cannot distinguish the black cuckoo from one 

 of his own species, and, although most jealous of any 

 intruder near its nest, allows the cuckoo the lion in the 

 ass's skin to hover about quite near the nest. And the 

 moment the hen drongo quits the nest in flies the cuckoo 

 and deposits her egg with her bill. 



The arch-hypocrite, however, is the cuckoo who takes 

 upon him the form of the sparrow-hawk, thereby playing 

 the role of the ass in the lion's skin. The male cuckoo, 

 thus disguised, hovers about the nest upon which his 

 mate has designs. The owners of the nest take this wily 

 scoundrel for a hawk with its eye on their home. The 

 brave little defenders, therefore, leave it and try to drive 

 him away ; while they are thus occupied, the female cuckoo 

 deposits her egg in the nest. When the dupes have ceased 



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