212 
THE CUCKOO’S SECRET 
Cuckoo. On the afternoon of June 20 the Cuckoo 
and two Pipits had hatched— it turned out that the 
Pipit’s third egg was addled. Early on the morning 
of the 21 st we found that the young Cuckoo was 
getting energetic and had already ejected the 
addled egg. Hawkins and I got into the hide and 
watched the Pipits brooding and feeding the 
restless young Cuckoo and its two nest-mates. It 
was very pretty to watch the male Pipit bring 
food whilst the female was brooding ; she raised 
herself up and distinctly directed the distribution 
by the male of his burden of food. We were 
within four feet of the nest. We left at 4 p.m., 
and in our absence the young Cuckoo ejected his 
two nest-mates, which upon our return at 9.30 p.m. 
we found dying and stiff. I took them in my 
hands, breathed on them, and they gradually 
relaxed and came to life. One I risked by slipping 
it at dusk into the nest of a Meadow Pipit sitting 
on four eggs ; the other was placed in flannel in a 
basket in an open oven. In the very early morning 
of June 22 they were both alive. We put them in 
with the young Cuckoo, and after Hawkins had taken 
several good pictures of the young parasite again 
ejecting them I transferred them to another nest 
which contained some newly hatched nestlings of 
