104 EXTRACTS FROM A LECTURE GIVEN BY WILLIAM LEAN. 
probably been concealed by the flannel almost, if not quite, from 
the time when my brother first looked for them • and I think 
there is good ground for supposing that instinct had shown the 
Kites that their nest in the spot they had chosen, though very 
secure in all other respects, would be overlooked from the rock 
above, and that, consequently, the safety of its contents would 
be endangered ; and that instinct had further instructed them to 
adopt such an extraordinary plan as to convey the piece of flannel 
to their abode, that it might serve as a covering for their treasures, 
and, by concealing them, preserve them from molestation. Surely 
such instinct looks as if it was tinged with a very strong shade 
of reason. 
The flannel was of that kind so commonly worn by the lower 
orders of Welsh country-women, and of which old waste bits are 
very likely to be thrown about in the fields. The piece in question 
I preserved for some years with the Kites’ eggs ; but, at last, 
through some mischance, it was lost, which I regret, as it was a 
memento of a very curious fact connected with natural history. 
There are doubtful points also connected with the habits of 
many birds, upon some of which these rambles may chance, very 
unexpectedly, to furnish us with the means of throwing some 
light. For instance, our annual visitant, the Cuckoo, whose note, 
monotonous though it be, everybody seems to welcome as a token 
of returning spring, — is well known to make no nest of her own, 
but to entrust her eggs to the care of other birds ; but it is not 
so well known in what manner she contrives to introduce her own 
egg into the abode of the stranger, whom she has selected to dis- 
charge the duties of nurse to her offspring. The Cuckoo generally 
chooses for her purpose the nests of the Hedge Sparrow, Titlark, 
Yellow Hammer, or Water Wagtail ; perhaps more frequently those 
of the Hedge Sparrow and Titlark than any others. All these 
birds are, compared with the Cuckoo, very small birds ; and their 
nests are likewise small, and are, besides, very often constructed 
in places into which it would be very difficult, if not impossible, 
for the Cuckoo to introduce her whole body. A question has 
therefore been sometimes raised whether the Cuckoo deposits her 
egg at once in the stranger’s nest, or whether she first lays it on 
the ground and then takes it up in her bill and places it in its 
destined abode, 
