WILD LIFE IN SEVERN ESTUARY 85 



the vestige of a feather, the young cuckoo begins 

 to sidle up to one of its fellow-occupants of the nest 

 and to lift it on its peculiarly shaped flat back. The 

 effort continues for long, and there can be no doubt 

 from the beginning about its deliberate intent. 

 Climbing backward up the side of the nest and using 

 its long naked wing processes as props, it gradually 

 lifts and gradually pushes its fellow-nestling over 

 the side to its certain doom. The blind little imp 

 even feels round to make sure that the deed is 

 properly accompUshed. Then it descends again, 

 and after a rest proceeds similarly with the other 

 nestlings. If the cuckoo is hatched out first it 

 treats the eggs in the nest in the same manner. For 

 hours, and even for days, the struggle continues, the 

 end being always the same — that the cuckoo remains 

 the sole occupant of the nest. The concentrated 

 intent of so immense and prolonged an effort on the 

 part of a creature so young and apparently so mind- 

 less at this stage is one of the most uncanny sights 

 in the whole range of nature to watch. 



But this is only the beginning. In a few days, and 

 long before it is fully fledged, the bird completely 

 fills and overflows the small nest. It now exercises 

 a kind of fascination on the foster parents, a fascina- 

 tion which extends even to human beings. For 

 when brought up by hand have you not seen the 

 members of a whole family, yourself included, con- 

 tinuously hunting for caterpillars to maintain it ? 

 A bird with an evil past it may be, a bird greedy 

 beyond compare ; but a bird so gentle, so abso- 

 lutely trustful of its friends, so evidently well-bred, 

 so surrounded with an indescribable air of distinc- 

 tion, so evidently expecting every helpless want to 



