600 
BIRD-LIFE. 
eggs in the nests of small birds, but, as has been discovered 
in Africa, in that of the Hooded Crow, while in Spain it 
makes use of that of the Magpie. The eggs are much 
larger than those of our species, and are similarly marked 
to those of the Hooded Crow and common Magpie, though 
in size they are somewhat smaller than those of the 
latter birds. Amongst foreign birds, besides the true 
Cuckoos, there are several species who, so to speak, place 
their young “ out to nurse.” 
The young Cuckoo’s foster-parents behave nobly 
towards their charge, bestowing on the stranger a care 
and affection equal to that evinced by them for their own 
young, rearing it with the greatest care and self-sacrifice. 
It is not enough that the greedy appetite of the foundling 
is insatiable, and taxes the efforts of its foster-parents to 
the utmost, but it grows so fast as soon to occupy the 
greater portion of the nest, far outstripping its foster- 
brothers and sisters; the latter it soon disposes of by 
shifting and fidgeting, until it gets them one by one on 
its broad shoulders, and heaves them bodily out of the 
nest, finally remaining in sole possession of the same, 
where it settles itself at its ease, opening its immense, 
yellow mouth wider than ever, and clamouring more 
«eagerly even than before for food. Its hunger is 
unlimited, and it swallows the food brought by its 
foster-parents, with the utmost greed, as though it had 
not had anything to eat for a fortnight! “ The more it 
wants,” says my father, “the harder the little songsters 
labour to satisfy it: they fly backwards and forwards, 
taking no rest until their guzzling foster-child has been 
satisfied. It is quite touching to watch the anxiety and 
care which they display. The little Wren, and still more 
the diminutive Goldcrest, quite lose sight of themselves 
amid their care for the Cuckoo under their charge. They 
