292 Birds. 
When the hedge-sparrow has set her usual time, and has 
disengaged the young Cuckoo and some of her own 
offspring from the shell, her own young ones and any of 
her eggs that remain unhatched are soon turned out: 
the young Cuckoo then remains in full possession of the 
nest, and is the sole object of the future care of the foster 
parent. The young birds are not previously killed, nor 
are the eggs demolished ;• but they are left to perish 
together, either entangled in the bush that contains the 
nest, or lying on the ground beneath it. On the 18th 
June, 1787, Dr. Jenner examined a nest of a hedge- 
sparrow, which then contained a Cuckoo's and three 
hedge-sparrow's eggs. On inspecting it the day follow- 
ing, the bird had hatched : but the nest then contained 
only a young Cuckoo and one hedge-sparrow. The nest 
was placed so near the extremity of a hedge, that he 
could distinctly see what was going forward in it ; and, 
to his great astonishment, he saw the young Cuckoo, 
though so lately hatched, in the act of turning out the 
young hedge-spaiTOw. The mode of accomplishing this 
was curious ; the little animal, with the assistance of its 
rump and wings, contrived to get the bird upon its back, 
and making a lodgment for its burden by elevating its 
elbows, climbed backward with it up the side of the 
nest, till it reached the top ; where, resting for a moment, 
it threw off its load with a jerk, and quite disengaged it 
from the nest. After remaining a short time in this situa- 
tion, and feeling about with the extremities of its wings, 
as if to be convinced that the business was properly 
executed, it dropped into the nest again. Dr. Jenner 
made several experiments in different nests, by repeatedly 
putting in an egg to the young Cuckoo, which he always 
found to be disposed of in the same manner. It is very 
remarkable that nature seems to have provided for the 
singular disposition of the Cuckoo in its formation at 
this period ; for, different from other newly- hatched birds, 
its back, from the scapulae downward, is very broad, with 
a considerable depression in the middle, which seems 
intended for the express purpose of giving a more secure 
lodgment to the egg of the hedge-sparrow or its young 
one, while the young Cuckoo is employed in removing 
