CUCKOO. 
444 
creased when we consider that the young one, whose 
size when fledged is little inferior to a pigeon, is 
destined to inhabit the small nest of the hedge- 
sparrow, or other nests equally diminutive : but the 
attempt of the cuckoo to leave her egg to the 
care of another does not always succeed, and she 
is sometimes beaten off the field by adversaries of a 
much inferior size. A little hen red-breast has 
been seen to unite with her mate in repelling a fe- 
male cuckoo from the nest. They attacked their 
enemy with such fury, that in a short time the 
cuckoo, being exhausted, began to totter, lost its 
balance, and turned on the branch, from which it 
hung by the feet, its eyes half shut, its bill open, 
and its wings expanded. Having remained about 
two minutes in this attitude it quitted the branch, 
flew to perch at a distance, and appeared no more. 
The female red-breast resumed her incubation, and 
all her eggs were hatched, and formed a little family, 
that long lived attached to the district where this 
circumstance happened. 
After the cuckoo leaves the nest it follows its sup- 
posed parent for a short time*, but soon leaves her 
to pursue its own specific habits, and it is more 
than probable that the nurse is not sorry to get rid 
of such an overgrown child. Cuckoos, though soli- 
* This circumstance is confirmed by Mr. Pennant, who in 
June, 1/78, saw a young cuckoo almost full grown, in a white 
wagtail’s nest, who fed it as if it had been her own offspring ; and 
for many days after the cuckoo fled, it was often seen perched on 
the wall adjacent to the nest, still attended and fed by the wagtail. 
