HUMMING-BIRDS 225 



in nests in positions where, it would seem, the birds could only 

 have placed them by the aid of the beak. 



The cuckoo's egg is very small for the size of the bird, and 

 so the duped foster-parents have never, so far as is known, been 

 concerned about the strange egg, which is hatched with the rest. 

 All is well till the young cuckoo, which grows very fast, claims 

 most of the attention of the foster birds, and therefore most of 

 the food which they so assiduously bring. Ere long, either by 

 design or by accident, it shoulders the other young birds out of 

 the nest; and then it has usurped the home and the whole atten- 

 tion of the old birds as well. It grows apace, and after about 

 five weeks' board and lodging under these false pretences, flies 

 away, leaving, one would imagine, the devoted foster-parents in 

 a dazed state of mind as to the character and development of 

 their fancied progeny. 



If all accounts be true, the young cuckoo seems to exercise 

 some sort of fascination upon other birds, as it is said that before 

 it is fully fledged other birds will sometimes come and feed it; 

 and they have been known to do so even when the young cuckoo 

 was captured and kept in a cage. 



It is possible to mistake a flying cuckoo for a hawk, which 

 it very much resembles. Indeed, even the smaller birds some- 

 times make just the same mistake, and " mob " a cuckoo in the 

 air, just as they mob a sparrow-hawk. 



The cuckoo gets the credit in the popular mind of living upon 

 the eggs of other birds. But it does not rob as well as deceive 

 other birds ; its food consists of moths, dragon-flies, various beetles, 

 and caterpillars, and the young cuckoos are vegetarians so far as 

 to eat different kinds of berries as well. 



HUMMING-BIRDS (Family Trochilid^) 



Humming-birds have well been termed the "gems of the 

 feathered race". Nearly five hundred different kinds of these 

 tiny creatures have been discovered, and nearly all are remark- 

 able for their exquisite colouring, the beauty of their form, and 



(M868) Q 



