90 
this situation, and feeling about with the 
extremities of its wings, as if to be con- 
vinced thai the business was properly 
executed, it dropped into the nest again." 
Several experiments by the same gentle- 
man were made in different nests, by 
repeatedly putting in an egg to the young 
Ciickow, which was always disposed of in 
the same manner. Indeed nature has 
provided for this singular disposition of 
the you«g Cuckow in its formation at this 
period; for, different from other newly- 
hatched birds, its back, from the scapulae 
downward, is very broad, with a con- 
siderable depression in the middle, which 
seems intended for the purpose of giving 
a more secure lodgment to the egg or 
young, while the Cuckow is employed in 
removing either of them from the nest. 
When it is about twelve days old, this 
cavity is filled up, the back assumes the 
shape of nestling birds in general, and at 
that time the disposition for turning out 
its companions entirely ceases. 
It appears that the young birds leave 
this country in succession, probably as 
