OF YB. 1D Ss 65 
out. In this ftate it feems ever reftlefs and uneafy. 
But this difpofition for turning out its com- 
panions begins to decline from the time it is two 
or three till it is about twelve days old, when it 
- ceales. Its fhape is well adapted for thefe pur- 
pofes ; for, different from other newly-hatched 
birds, its back is very broad, with a confiderable 
depreffion in the middle. This hollow feems 
formed by nature for the defign of giving a more 
 fecure lodgement to the egg of the hedge-fparrow, 
| or its young one, when the young Cuckoo is 
employed in throwing either of them out of the 
neft. When it is about twelve days old this 
hollow is quite filled up, and then the back af- 
fumes the fhape of neftling birds in general. 
June 27, 1787. » Two Cuckoos and a hedge- 
{parrow were hatched in the fame neft this morn- 
ing; one hedge-fparrow’s egg remained un- 
hatched. In a few hours after, a conteft began 
between the Cuckoos for the poffeffion of the neft, 
which continued undetermined till the next after- 
noon; when one of them, which was fomewhat 
fuperior in fize, turned out the other, together 
with the young hedge-fparrow and the unhatched 
egg. This conteft was very remarkable. The 

combatants alternately appeared to have the ad- 
vantage, as each carried the other feveral times | 
nearly to the top of the neft, and then funk down 
again, 
