248 



THE BIRDS OF ATJSTKALIA 



instinct which enables the Cuckoos almost invariably to choose 

 the nests of insect-feeding birds is manifested. No particular 

 care is apparently taken to match the eggs of Cuckoo and foster 

 bird, either in size or colour. The young Cuckoo, even while 

 still blind, as soon as it is strong enough, works the fledglings of 

 the foster bird over the edge of the nest, and remains to be the 



Pallid Cuckoo : Cuculus pallidus. 



Australian Museum, 

 Fan-tailed Cuckoo : Cacomantis 



flahelliformis. 



sole care and charge of the defrauded parents, who never appear 

 to discover or to resent the supplanting of their own offspring 

 by an alien. It is indeed pathetic to watch tiny birds like the 

 Acanthizas in a state of wild agitation endeavour to render 

 succour to a young Cuckoo, many sizes larger than themselves, 

 if mischance has ejected it from the nest. 



