The Cuckoo 



frequently mistaken by the smaller birds, and mobbed 

 accordingly. 



This bird solves housekeeping difficulties in the simplest 

 way by leaving its eggs to the tender mercies of other 

 species. It apparently usually watches other birds when 

 building, and as soon as the chosen nest contains a few 

 eggs, it lays its own egg on the ground, and picking it up 

 in its beak deposits it in the nest, throwing out at the 

 same time a few of the rightful eggs. The eggs are, as a 

 rule, deposited one by one in a different nest of the same 

 species, and when two Cuckoo's eggs are found in the same 

 nest, they are almost assuredly the produce of two different 

 birds. Having deposited its eggs, the mother Cuckoo 

 takes no further interest in her progeny, but continues to 

 lead a life of leisure, till early in August both sexes leave 

 us for their southern winter-quarters. The eggs of this 

 species are extremely variable, but as a rule are of a pale 

 bluish or greenish ground colour, with reddish spots and 

 inottlings ; sometimes they agree so closely with the eggs of 

 .their foster-parents as to be almost indistinguishable, but 

 such cases are exceptional. When the young Cuckoo has 

 been hatched about twenty-four hours, he sets to work to 

 eject the other nestlings by getting them on his back, 

 in which there is a hollow, and pushing them over the 

 side of the nest. He is most importunate in his demands 

 for food, and continues to be a burden on the foster-parents 

 long after he is able to feed himself. Once, however, he is 

 fledged, he wings his way southwards and we see him no 

 more, till he returns the following spring to gladden us 

 with his cheering " cuckoo.'' Various species of insecti- 



187 



