288 The Birds' White Elephant. 



k3'wee — tweo — tliweet,' which, whatever va^j be 

 its true translation, has a i^ecuUarlj' soothing effect 

 on the ear. Swifts usuall}' fly at a great height, and 

 being scattered in the atmosphere, do not appear 

 numerous ; but sometimes during a stiff gale they 

 descend and concentrate over an open field, there 

 wheeling round and to and fro onl}- just above the 

 grass. Then the ground looks quite black with them 

 as they dart over it : thej' exhibit no fear, but if you 

 stand in the midst come all around 3'ou so close that 

 they might be knocked down with a walking-stick if 

 used quick enough. In the air they do not look 

 large, but when so near as this they are seen to be 

 of considerable size. The appearance of hundreds 

 of these jet black, long-winged birds, flying with 

 man'ellous rapidity and threading an inextricable 

 maze almost, as it were, under foot, is very striking. 

 The proverbial present of a white elephant is par- 

 alleled in bird life b}' the gift of the cuckoo's egg. 

 The bird whose nest is chosen never deserts the 

 strange changeling, but seems to feel feeding the 

 young cuckoo to be a sacred duty, and sees its own 

 3'oung ejected and perishing without apparent con- 

 cern. My attention was called one spring to a 

 robin's nest made in a stubble rick ; there chanced 

 to be a slight hollow in the side of the rick, and this 

 had been enlarged. A cuckoo laid her egg in the 

 nest, and as it happened to be near some cowsheds 

 it was found and watched. When the young bird 

 began to get fledged some sticks were inserted in the 

 rick so as to form a cage, that it might not escape, 

 and there the cuckoo grew to maturity and to full 

 feather. 



