OBSERVATIONS ON A YOUNG CUCKOO. 167 



so admirable that one cannot suspect him of error. An Accentor's 

 feather lay on the hedge by the nest, but there was no evidence 

 of the presence of the old Cuckoo, or of any scuffle, which is said 

 sometimes to take place. 



4dh. — 7.45 a.m. For experiment, I put a Pied Wagtail's 

 egg into the nest, but the young Cuckoo, though very restless, 

 made no attempt to eject it. 



7.55 a.m. Eemoved the Wagtail's egg, and put into the 

 nest a very young live Linnet, whose presence the Cuckoo 

 obviously disliked very much, but it made no attempt to 

 eject it, though hardly ever still, crawling round and about 

 its nest by the aid of its wings, which must possess an extra- 

 ordinary degree of sensibility, and are used like a child's 

 arms. 



2 p.m. Put off the Accentor, and introduced a lively 

 young Wren into the nest, which the Cuckoo immediately 



Young Cuckoo's wing on the fourth day. 



commenced proceedings against, working round and about it 

 until it had got the bird on to its broad back, in which posi- 

 tion the Wren was kept by means of the Cuckoo's long and 

 muscular wings. Then, planting its zygodactyle feet well 

 apart, the little Cuckoo drew itself up until it stood, and 

 three times hoisted the Wren nearly on to the edge of the 

 nest, while my daughters made sketches of the performance. 

 As there are some slight differences in their drawings, it may 

 be well to reproduce both of them. 



The young Cuckoo's colour is now slaty brown — in fact, 

 nearly black — very different from the pink flesh tint which 

 Gould has given it in his ' Birds of Great Britain,' which is 

 very incorrect. The alula spuria, or bastard wing, has 

 largely developed (see sketch), and its back has grown 

 broader. Its age is about seventy-seven hours. 



5th. — 8 a.m. Again put the young Wren into the nest, 



