672 
BIKD-LIFE. 
grass, moss, and also of dry leaves; the interior is cup¬ 
shaped, and is lined with hair, bristles, feathers, wool, 
and such-like materials. The eggs, five or six in number, 
are very smooth and thin in the shell, somewhat short, 
sharp-pointed at one end, broad and round at the other; 
the ground a dirty, yellowish white, spotted and speckled 
with yellowish gray, and lighter shades intermingling 
with the ground. The female usually hatches out her 
young unaided, though the male has been found in the 
act of incubation. Both parents show great attachment 
to their offspring, and the female not unfrequently allows 
herself to be caught on her eggs. They are still more 
fond of their young, which are hatched out in about 
fourteen days; and after another fortnight they leave the 
nest, even before their tails are full grown. At first the 
young are fed by both parents with much assiduity, after 
which they teach them by degrees to feed themselves, 
instructing them in every way, and seeking to shield 
them from all possible harm. The old birds then com¬ 
mence making their preparations for a second brood, 
which is usually hatched by the beginning of June, 
though they often find themselves obliged to rear a 
young Cuckoo instead of their own offspring. The old 
birds are not troubled with many enemies, for the small 
birds’ bug-bear—the Sparrowhawk—is deterred by the 
close proximity to their haunts, of water; and they easily 
escape the clutches of carnivorous mammals. Man never 
troubles them: he must indeed be an uncommon young 
scoundrel who is desirous of showing his utter worthless¬ 
ness by shooting or otherwise destroying this pretty bird. 
The young brood, however, is surrounded by enemies of 
all kinds: they are often drowned by the sudden floods 
caused by a heavy downfall of rain; cats, martens, stoats, 
