THRUSH AND CUCKOO. 211 



birds, indeed, seem to be more liberal in the use 

 of their voice; we have heard it repeatedly, on 

 fine nights, in the latter end of May, singing till 

 after dark, and have been roused from our slumbers 

 by a repetion of the same well-known song by two 

 o'clock in the morning. 



Those who have seen a young. Cuckoo fed by its 

 unsuspicious step-mother, seated on a bough or a rail, 

 opening its wide-gaping mouth, as if ready to swal- 

 low the poor little bird that hung over it with fond 

 attachment, fluttering its little wings as it dropt a 

 caterpillar down the monster's greedy throat, will be 

 the less surprised at the following anecdote, of 

 what may be called unnatural attachment between 

 Thrushes and birds of a very different character. 



We know nothing of the strange ways by which 

 Providence brings about some of the apparently 

 singular contradictions in its established rules ; but 

 knowing for a certainty, that by some strange delu- 

 sion, a small Hedge-Sparrow is persuaded to look 

 upon an enormous Cuckoo as its own beloved young 

 one, may we not suspect that the Cuckoo has some 

 instinctive mode of gaining the affections, or attract- 

 ing the attention of those birds from whom it requires 

 assistance ? The case was this, A young Cuckoo 

 was taken from the nest of a Hedge-Sparrow, and 

 a few days afterwards, a young Thrush, scarcely 

 fledged, was put into the same cage. The latter 

 could feed itself, but the Cuckoo, its companion, was 

 obliged to be fed with a quill ; in a short time, how- 

 ever, the Thrush look upon itself the task of feeding 

 its fellow-prisoner, and continued so to do with the 

 utmost care, bestowing every possible attention, and 



p 2 



