74 
BIRDS IN A VILLAGE. 
very few moments ; and again and again she 
darted away in quest of food and returned suc- 
cessful, while the lazy beautiful giant sat sunning 
himself on his cross-stick and hungrily cried for 
more. 
This is one of those exceptional sights in nature 
which, however often seen, never become altogether 
familiar, never fail to re-excite the old feelings of 
wonder and admiration which were experienced on 
first witnessing them. I can safely say, I think, 
that no man has observed so many parasitical young 
birds (individuals) being fed by their foster-parents 
as myself, yet the interest such a sight inspires in 
me is just as fresh now as in boyhood. And 
probably in no parasitical species does the strange- 
ness of the spectacle strike the mind so sharply as 
in this British bird, since the differences in size and 
colouring between the foster-parent and its false 
offspring are so much greater in its case. Here 
nature's unnaturalness in such an instinct — a 
close union of the beautiful and the monstrous — is 
seen in its extreme form. The hawk-like figure 
and markings of the cuckoo serve only to ac- 
centuate the disparity, which is perhaps greatest 
when the parent is the hedge-sparrow — so plainly 
coloured a bird, so shy and secretive in its habits. 
One never ceases to be amazed at the blindness of 
the parental instinct in so intelligent a creature as 
