BRITISH BIRDS. 10/ 
ment, he faw the young Cuckoo, though fo lately- 
hatched, in the ad of turning out the young Hedge- 
fparrow# The mode of accomplilhing this was cu- 
rious : The little animal, with the affiftance of its 
rump and wings, contrived to get the bird upon its 
back, and making a lodgement for its burden by 
elevating its elbows, clambered backwards with it 
up the fide of the neft till it reached the top, where 
refting for a moment, it threw off its load with a 
jerk, and quite difengaged it from the neft : After 
remaining a lhort time in this fituation, and feeling 
about with the extremities of its wings, as if to be 
convinced that the bufmefs was properly executed, 
it dropped into the neft again. Mr J. made fever- 
al experiments in different nefts by repeatedly put- 
ting in an egg to the young Cuckoo, which he al- 
ways found to be difpofed of in the fame manner. 
It is very remarkable, that nature feems to have 
provided for the fmgular difpofition of the Cuckoo 
in its formation at this period, for, different from 
other newly hatched birds, its back from the fca- 
pulas downwards is very broad, with a confiderable 
depreffion in the middle, which feems intended by 
nature for the purpofe of giving a more fecure 
lodgement to the egg of the Hedge-fparrow, or its 
young one, while the young Cuckoo is employed 
in removing either of them from the neft. When 
it is above twelve days old this cavity is quite fil- 
led up, the back aiTumes the fhape of neftling birds 
in general, and at that time the difpofition for turn- 
