( 30 ) 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF A NESTLING 



CUCKOO. 



By E. p. Butterfield. 



On June 11th last a friend of mine who was on his holidays 

 from Tunstall, Staffs, took me to the nest of a Titlark which 

 contained three eggs and a Cuckoo's egg, which he had found 

 on the afternoon of June 9th on Baildon Moor, an extensive piece 

 of waste ground, which was leased some time ago to the City 

 of Bradford for the use of the public. The day was brilliantly 

 fine when we arrived at the nest, which was about noon, and we 

 found that all the eggs were hatched — three Pipits and one 

 Cuckoo. It is impossible to say how old the nestlings were, but 

 they could not have been two days old, as may be inferred from 

 the above remarks. The Cuckoo seemed to have been hatched a 

 little longer than the Pipits, but still it could not have been much 

 more than twenty-four hours old, as it was quite flesh-coloured, 

 and a young Cuckoo begins to get much darker after this age. 



The Cuckoo, even at this age, manifested some restlessness, 

 and wriggled about a little when any of the rightful owners 

 pressed on its back, but still showed no further disposition 

 to eject its fosterer's young. I suggested to my friend a walk 

 round Hope Hill, the highest hill in the neighbourhood, and 

 afterwards a return to the nest. On our return, to our astonish- 

 ment, we found that one nestling had been thrown out of the 

 nest and was lying on the rim, and we had not long to wait 

 before the Cuckoo threw out the other two Pipits. The method 

 of ejectment was as follows : The young Cuckoo instinctively 

 works its way to the bottom of the nest, where it evinces great 

 restlessness until one of the nestlings rests its head on its back. 

 This induces the Cuckoo to lower its body, and by degrees it is 

 enabled to get the nestling into the hollow of its back ; then it 

 commences to walk backwards up the side of the nest, keeping 

 its victim in position by its wings, which it uses with remarkable 

 facility, until it reaches the top of the nest, when, by an extra- 



