THE CUCKOO. Ill 



or three of them produce young birds. But it is very 

 remarkable, that she has never been known to throw 

 out, or injure the eggs of the Cuckoo. 



When the sparrow has sat her usual time, and has 

 hatched the young Cuckoos, and some of her own off- 

 spring, it has been found that the young sparrows, to- 

 gether with any unhatched eggs that may remain, are 

 thrown out of the nest, thus leaving only the young 

 Cuckoos to be nurtured by the old sparrow. The 

 young sparrows are not killed, nor are the eggs broken, 

 but both are left to perish, entangled in the bushes, or 

 lying on the ground under them. 



From observations, afterwards made by Dr. Jenner, 

 he found that the old sparrow was not herself the 

 means of turning out her eggs, and her young, but that 

 this was done by the young Cuckoo. He states that 

 he looked into a sparrow's nest which contained two 

 sparrow's eggs, and one Cuckoo's egg. Afterwards, on 

 going to the nest, he found that it contained only one 

 young sparrow and the young Cuckoo. He now 

 watched the proceedings, and saw the young Cuckoo 

 in the act of throwing out the little sparrow. The 

 manner of doing this was quite curious, and displayed 

 in a wonderful degree the instinct of an animal only a 

 day or two old. 



The young Cuckoo contrived, after working for some 

 time, to get the sparrow on its back ; then holding up 

 its wings to prevent its rolling off over the head, it 

 climbed backwards, up the side of the nest until it 

 reached the edge ; where resting for a moment, it 

 threw the poor little outcast quite from the nest, and it 

 fell on the ground. After staying tor a moment, and 



