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drops its eggs into the nests of other birds, 
by whom they are hatched; and the young 
reared by their foster parents, avS if they 
were really their own. The nest she 
chooses for this purpose is generally 
selected from the following, viz. The 
hedge sparrow, wagtail, titlark, yellow 
bunting, greenfinch or the whinchat. But 
there are instances of theeggof the Cuckow 
having beenfoundin the nest of other birds. 
During the time the hedge sparrow or 
other bird is laying her eggs, which occu- 
pies three, four or five days, the Cuckow 
contrives to deposit her egg among the 
rest, leaving the future care of it entirely to 
the hedge sparrow, &c. This intrusion 
often occasions some disorder; for the old 
hedge sparrow, at intervals, whilst she is 
sitting, not only throws out some of her 
own eggs, but sometimes injures them in 
such a way that they become addle, so that 
not more than one or two of the parent 
bird's eggs are hatched; this may account 
for the popular idea that the Cuckow de- 
stroys the eggs she may find in the nest, 
when she deposits her own. The fact is, 
