Nature not scrupulous. g 



quoting from Goethe's " Conversations with Ecker- 

 mann," in continuation of what was said above : 



" This is a mystery," returned Goethe. " But tell 

 me how the cuckoo places its egg in the nest of the 

 wren with so small an opening." 



" The cuckoo lays it upon a dry spot," returned I, 

 " and takes it to the nest in her beak. I believe, too, 

 that she does this with the wren's nest and with all 

 others. . . . Supposing that she lays five eggs, and 

 that all these are properly hatched and brought up 

 by affectionate foster-parents, we must still wonder 

 that Nature can resolve to sacrifice at least fifty of 

 the young of our best singing-birds for five young 

 cuckoos." 



" In such things, as well as in others," returned 

 Goethe, " Nature does not appear to be very scrupu- 

 lous. She has a good fund of life to lavish, and she 

 does so now and then without much hesitation. But 

 how does it happen that so many young singing-birds 

 are lost for a single young cuckoo ? " 



" The first brood," I replied, " is generally lost ; 

 for even if it should happen that the eggs of the 

 singing-bird are hatched at the same time with that 

 of the cuckoo, which is very probable, the parents 

 are so much delighted with the larger bird that they 

 think of and feed that alone, whilst their own young 

 are neglected and vanish from the nest. It is a long 

 time before it attains its full size and plumage, and 

 even after it has flown it requires to be fed ; so that 

 the whole summer passes away and the foster-parents 

 do not think of a second brood." 



" This is very convincing — very remarkable," said 

 Goethe. 



