Wizard Cuckoos 57 



in which the cuckoo usually exhibits itself in a 

 satisfactory light. Occasionally instances are 

 recorded of cuckoos helping to feed their own 

 young, or otherwise showing an interest in them ; 

 but as a rule the parental instinct in the cuckoo 

 is entirely extinguished from the moment that she 

 has placed her egg in the nest and flown away. 



Hen cuckoos have been observed in the act of 

 carrying an egg, but this is an egg of their victims. 

 It has now been clearly established that they lay 

 their eggs in the actual nest of the fosterer, when 

 the size and position of the nest make it easy to 

 do so. It is known from dissection, that her normal 

 number of eggs is from five to seven, like those of 

 very many other birds, especially those which lay, 

 like herself, when spring is well advanced. But 

 if a series of suitable nests are available, this 

 number may be much exceeded. From the differ- 

 ence usually to be seen in the colour and markings 

 of any two cuckoos' eggs found in the same nest, 

 it seems clear that the same bird finds a different 

 nest for each egg she lays, though she has not the 

 discernment or foresight to avoid a nest in which 

 there is already a future rival for her own changeling. 

 It is war to the death between two young cuckoos 

 in one nest ; and, if the second egg is inserted even 

 a day after the first, the start in incubation must 

 often give an insuperable advantage to the first- 

 hatched bird. The cuckoo's egg is generally dropped 

 in the foster-parents' nest while their own are 

 being laid ; but sometimes it is inserted while the 

 nest is still empty. As can easily be proved by 



