THRUSH AND CUCKOO. 
207 
opening its wide-gaping mouth, as if ready to swal- 
low the poor little bird that hung oyer it with fond 
attachment, fluttering its little wings as it dropt a 
caterpillar down the monster’s greedy throat, will be 
the less surprised at the following anecdote, of 
what may be called unnatural attachment between 
Thrushes and birds of a very different character. 
We know nothing of the strange ways by which 
Providence brings about some of the apparently 
singular contradictions in its established rules ; but 
knowing for a certainty that by some strange delu- 
sion, a small Hedge-Sparrow is persuaded to look 
upon an enormous Cuckoo as its own beloved young 
one, may we not suspect that the Cuckoo has some 
instinctive mode of gaining the affections, or attract- 
ing the attention of those birds from whom it requires 
assistance? The case was this, — A young Cuckoo 
was taken from the nest of a Hedge-Sparrow, and 
a few days afterwards, a young Thrush, scarcely 
fledged, was put into the same cage. The lattei* 
could feed itself, but the Cuckoo, its companion, was 
obliged to be fed with a quill ; in a short time, how- 
ever, the Thrush took upon itself the task of feeding 
its fellow-prisoner, and continued so to do with the 
utmost care, bestowing every possible attention, and 
manifesting the greatest anxiety to satisfy its con- 
tinual cravings for food*. 
* In dissecting a young Cuckoo, killed August 20, 1833, 
about twenty full-grown caterpillars, of the peacock butter- 
fly ( Pap. Io J, were found undigested. The stomachs of 
these birds are remarkable for having a coating of hair, 
which, when dried and turned inside out, looks very similar, 
in colour, size, and form, to a mouse’s head. 
