THE CUCKOO. 
601 
scarcely allow themselves time to satisfy their own wants, 
for the feeding of their foster-child is their first and 
principal object.” In olden times it was asserted that 
the young Cuckoo devoured its foster-parents; this is, 
however, manifestly untrue, though one can easily 
understand that observers, on seeing the young bird’s 
immense and ever-open mouth, might, without any 
great stretch of the imagination, have come to that 
conclusion. Others have given a finishing touch to 
the legend, stating that the young Cuckoo does not 
devour its foster-parents until it has no further use for 
them! This has led to the custom of holding up the 
Cuckoo as typical of those ungrateful children, who, when 
their parents have nothing more to give, and become a 
burden, ill-treat and neglect them in a shameless 
manner. 
It is impossible to find a stronger proof of the all- 
powerful strength of maternal affection than that shown 
by the foster-parents of the Cuckoo. They might well 
be regarded as patterns worthy of imitation by our 
human step- and foster-parents ! The stranger, who has 
even turned their own children out of house and home 
and destroyed them, is tended by the childless parents 
with as much tenderness and love as if it was their own. 
If one only approaches the uncouth foundling, which is 
the produce of a strange egg palmed upon their credulity, 
they show the most painful anxiety on its behalf, and 
seek by all means in their power to preserve it from 
danger and defend it. Fearlessly they flutter round a 
person coming near the nest, crying pitifully, apparently 
totally oblivious of their own safety, when intent on 
succouring their charge. The foster-child understands 
their warning notes, for it instantly becomes silent, 
though just before it has been calling out “hip, hip,” in 
