THE CUCKOO. 285

of the cuckoo of laying its eggs in the nests of other birds,
has given rise to much speculation, ancient and modern, and
now, though the fact remains, a sufficiently satisfactory
reason seems as remote as ever. The nest of the Hedge-
sparrow seems to be the one most often selected, though that
of the wagtail is sometimes chosen. The consequences to
the young of the native bird, are somewhat serious as the
following will show.
The eancean Dr. Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination
end the  says:—“On the 18th of June, 1787, I exam-
Hedge-Sparrow: ined the nest of a hedge-sparrow (Accentor
modularis), which then contained a cuckoo and three hedge-
sparrows’ eggs. On inspecting it the day following, the bird
had hatched; but the nest then contained only a young
cuckoo and one hedge-sparrow. The nest was placed so near
the extremity of a hedge, that I could distinctly see what was
going forward in it; and, to my great astonishment, I saw
the young cuckoo, though so lately hatched, in the act of
turning out the young hedge-sparrow. The mode of accom-
plishing this was very curious; the little animal, with the
assistance of its rump and wings, contrived to get the bird
upon its back, and making a lodgment for its burthen by
elevating its elbows, clambered backwards with it up the side
of the nest till it reached the top, where, resting for a moment,
it threw off its load with a jerk, and quite disengaged it from
the nest. It remained in this situation for a short time,
feeling about with the extremities of its wings, as if to be
convinced whether the business was properly executed, and
then dropped into the nest again. I afterwards put in an
egg, and this, by a similar process, was conveyed to the edge
of the nest and thrown out. These experiments I have since
repeated several times, in different nests, and have always
found the young cuckoo disposed to act in the same manner.
“Tt sometimes happens that two cuckoos’ eggs are depostted
in the same nest, and then the young produced from one of