THE YOUNG CUCKOO 
213 
their own species. A remarkable feature, seen 
very clearly on the film, was that the young Cuckoo 
actually ejected the addled egg whilst the female 
Meadow Pipit was on the nest. She took no apparent 
notice ; on the contrary, it really looked as if she 
lifted herself up to allow the young Cuckoo more 
scope for his exertions.* 
One of the spectators of the film has written to 
me — 
“ Perhaps the scene which impressed me most 
was that of the ejection of the young Pipits by the 
newly-hatched Cuckoo. It was a glimpse into the 
appalling cruelties of the struggle for existence, 
the ‘ survival of the fittest 5 whose motto is 
‘ Might is Right.’ It offended, so to speak, every 
rule of fair play that appeals to one’s sporting 
instinct. The young interloper was obviously so 
much better equipped for the struggle, blind as he 
and his nest-fellows were, with his long unfledged 
flippers — like nothing so much as the pictures of 
the ‘ wings ’ of a pterodactyl — which he seemed to 
use as levers to raise and heave overboard the 
wretched young Pipits. He seemed to wriggle 
himself first to the bottom of the nest, and to 
emerge, by a series of jerks, bearing the young 
Pipit on the back of his neck, almost exactly as a 
* See photograph, p. 214. 
