A CUCKOO HATCHING ITS OWN EGGS. 217 
with his head and neck on the bottom of the nest. He did not 
even stir when I touched him with my finger on the back, in 
which the characteristic depression found in very young Cuckoos 
was still discernible, nor when I placed an egg or some similar 
substance on his back. I concluded therefore that the sitting 
mother must have herself removed the addled eggs, and not the 
young Cuckoo, as it is wont to do when in other birds’ nests. 
After this I returned again to my point of observation, but 
did not succeed in seeing the young bird fed by the old one, as I 
was disturbed by some people cutting grass in the neighbour- 
hood, and resolved to defer my further observation until a 
quieter day. 
When I returned to the place on the morning of May 26th, 
T had several times an opportunity of seeing the young Cuckoo 
fed by the old one with what appeared to me to be green 
caterpillars. On the same occasion the young nestling was sat 
upon and warmed by the mother for a long while. When I 
arrived at the spot I placed myself at my former post of 
observation, and saw with my glasses the old bird sitting on the 
nest. For twenty-two minutes I watched her in this situation, 
when I was surprised to see her suddenly rise from the ground 
at several paces distant from the nest and fly away. I seized the 
opportunity of visiting the nest, and found the young Cuckoo 
lying in the hollow with its eyes nearly quite open. When I 
approached, it erected the front part of its body, and opened its 
orange-coloured mouth, uttering its fine piping cry. The space 
round the nest was thoroughly cleared of excrement,—a striking 
proof that the mother Cuckoo possesses the ordinary instinct of 
nest-building birds, that of removing the comparatively large 
feces of the young with its bill. About three minutes after I 
had got back to my hiding-place I saw the old Cuckoo alight on 
an open spot six or eight footsteps distant from the nest, after 
which it fed the young with some green substance, apparently 
caterpillars, as I could see with my glasses, and then covered it 
with her body again for about a quarter of an hour. The 
mother left the spot on this occasion again by flying up from the 
neighbouring place before mentioned, and not immediately from 
the nest. Within a few minutes she returned with a similar lot 
of food, and, after feeding the young one, retired in the same 
way as was before described. After the second return and 
ZOOLOGIST.—JUNE, 1889. 8 
