108 
BIRD-LIFE. 
Nocturnal birds of prey are, however, the most unfortu¬ 
nate ; when discovered in broad daylight by other birds 
they suffer severely at the hands of the noisy rabble. 
It is a perfect comedy to see the eagerness with which 
the little friends of day, worry and strike at the 
canting humbug, till the latter, worn out of patience, 
snaps and hisses at them; big and little take part in the 
fray, and, at last, nothing remains for their nocturnal 
enemy but flight. It is very remarkable that the birds 
which are most subject to this treatment are those which 
carry on their depredations in a secret and spiteful man¬ 
ner, while those which feed on carrion, lizards, and fish, 
are left in peace; this system of mobbing thus seems to 
bear the impress of revengeful retaliation. This is, pro¬ 
bably, the principal reason why the Cuckoo is so often 
chased by small birds: I doubt much if this insidious 
individual is mistaken by any of its tormentors for the 
Sparrow-hawk, for I have always observed that all birds 
recognize their enemies. The Cuckoo may consider pity 
as the motive which animates those birds that rear and 
bring it up until able to take care of itself; when, 
however, no longer an object of compassion, these little 
Warblers, menaced by the egg-destroyer, can no longer 
have any good feeling towards him; on the contrary, 
they have a perfect right to detest him. 
It matters little whether Cuckoo or Sparrow-hawk be 
confounded one with the other, no injustice being done 
to either party—they are both thorough-paced sneaking 
rascals, speaking portraits of an arrant sharper. The 
first destroys as many broods in the year as its female 
lays eggs, while the daily employment of the latter is 
to kill little birds in the most wholesale manner; its 
chase is no sample of skilful hawking, but rather low, 
