Birds. 99 



nest ; while the nestlings, filled with fear and wonder, are crouching 

 with their heads close to the bottom of the nest and cocking up their 

 tails. If you wish to take them you must be careful how you manage, 

 for they will often bolt out of the nest with a scream, in different di- 

 rections, the old birds vociferously calling them, and trying to get 

 them to a place of safety. The young ones remain quiet in the places 

 they have flown to, until their alarm is over and hunger compels them 

 to call for food ; you may then by patiently watching, and being di- 

 rected by their call, as well as marking the place where the old birds 

 feed them, secure one or more. 



A young nestling that I took on the 29th of last June, would often 

 turn himself completely round and round the perch of his cage, with- 

 out letting go his hold ; he began to record and warble his song as 

 soon as he could feed, and when about seven weeks old would break 

 out pretty loud. As with most nestling birds when learning, you can 

 make out but little resemblance to their proper notes. 



The reed-warbler's nest now and then receives a cuckoo's egg, as 1 

 find by my notes that on the loth of June, 1834, when close to the 

 New-cross canal, about four miles from London, I found a cuckoo's 

 egg in each of two nests built among reeds, within sixty yards of each 

 other. One of the nests had three eggs in it besides the cuckoo's; 

 the reed-bird's eggs had been sat on about a week : the other nest 

 had two fresh eggs besides the cuckoo's. From their being so near to 

 each other, it is probable that the two cuckoo's eggs were laid by the 

 isame bird. 



At the latter end of July, 1829, while reading in my garden, which 

 adjoins a market-garden, * I was agreeably surprised to see a young 

 cuckoo, nearly full grown, alight on the railings between the two, not 

 more than a dozen yards from where I was sitting. Anxious to see 

 what birds had reared this cuckoo I silently watched his movements, 

 and had not waited more than a minute, when a reed-warbler flew to 

 the cuckoo, who, crouching down with his belly close to the rail, and 

 fluttering his wings, opened wide his orange-coloured mouth to receive 

 the insect his foster-mother had brought him. This done, the reed- 

 warbler flew away for a fresh supply of food. The difference in the 

 «ize of the two birds was great ; it was like a pigmy feeding a giant, 

 while the reed-warbler was absent, the cuckoo shufiled along the rail 

 and hopped upon a slender post to which it was nailed, and which 

 projected about eight inches above the rail. The reed-warbler soon 

 -retunied with more food, and alighted close to the cuckoo, but on the 

 * 111 the Blue-Auchor loud, Bermondsey. 



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