THE SEARCHERS. 



109 



the Cuckoo, as though to make room to enable her to lay her egg more commodiously. Meanwhile 

 she hops round her with such expressions of delight that her husband at length joins her, and both 

 seem lavish in their thanks for the honour which the great bird confers upon them by selecting their 

 nest for its own use." 



Although the above extract sounds very well, with all deference to Herr Bechstein, we are 

 compelled to say that it is unfortunately not true. All the birds that we have seen who have had 

 the very doubtful honour of having a Cuckoo's egg palmed upon them as their own, have seemed 

 to testifv in a striking manner their anguish at the threatened occurrence and their unmistakable 



THE JAY CUCKOO {Coccystes glaudarius). 



desire to drive the Cuckoo away. So far from coming as a welcome visitor, the mother Cuckoo 

 comes like a thief in the night ; and no sooner has she laid her egg than she hastily takes her 

 departure, as if quite conscious of the unfriendly character of her visit. However this may be, there 

 is no doubt that the foster-parents brood over the Cuckoo's egg with the same assiduity as over 

 their own ; and it is only when the eggs of both are hatched that the real character of the intruder 

 begins to show itself, doubtless to the great terror and dismay of the proper owners of tlie nest. 



" Two Cuckoos and a Hedge Sparrow," writes Dr. Jenner, " were hatched in the same nest 

 this morning. In a few hour after, a combat began between the Cuckoos for the possession of the 

 nest, which continued undetermined until the next afternoon, when one of them, which was somewhat 

 superior in size, turned out the other, together with the young Hedge Sparrow and an unhatched egg. 

 This contest was very remarkable. The combatants alternately appeared to have the ad\-antage, as 

 each carried the other several times to the top of the nest, and then sank down again, oppressed by 



