“Some say that when the young Cuckoo 
grows it ejects the other young birds, 
which then perish. Others say that the 
foster-mother kills them and feeds the 
young Cuckoo with them, for the beauty 
of the young Cuckoo makes her despise 
her own offspring. People say that they 
have been eye-witnesses of these things 
— Aristotle ( c . 350 b.c.), 
Historia Animalium , ix. 29. 
