e usually laid by a bird of its size, they are no
larger than those which properly belong in the nest; so that the owners
do not appear to discover the deception put upon them, but treat all the
eggs alike. As soon as the young cuckoo is hatched he begins to grow
very fast, and as he is larger and stronger than the other nestlings, he
manages to get the lion's share of the food which the old birds bring to
the nest. It would seem as if robbing his foster brothers and sisters of
part of their nest, of the attention and care of their parents, and of
nearly all of their food, might be enough to satisfy the young cuckoo;
but it is not. He wants not part, but, everything--the whole nest, all
the care of the old birds, and all of the food--for himself; so, when
the old birds are away, he pushes himself under one of the little
nestlings, which is of course too small and weak to help itself, and
throws it out of the nest to die. In this way he murders all his
foster-brothers, and if any eggs are still unhatched he throws them out
too. He now has all the attention of the old birds to himself, for they
continue to treat him as affectionately as if he were really one of
their own children, and go on bringing him food, and attending to all
his wants, long after he has grown to be as large as themselves, or even
larger.

[Illustration: THE CUCKOO.]

We have two species of cuckoo in the United States, but each of them
builds a nest of its own, and rears its own young, although our
yellow-billed cuckoo is a very bad nest-builder, and is said often to
desert its young, leaving them to starve unless other birds take pity
upon them and bring them food. Most of our smaller birds are very
sympathetic during the breeding season, and are ready to give food and
care to any young bird which needs it, even if it is not one of their
own species.

Although our American cuckoos have not, as a general thing, the bad
habits of those of Europe, we have another very common bird which is
hatched and brought up by strangers. Every boy who lives in the country
knows the cow-bird, cow-blackbird, or cow-bunting, for it is called by
all these names. It is a small bird, a little larger than the bobolink
and of much the same shape. The male has a dark-brown head and a bright
greenish-black back and wings, but the female is so much lighter in
color that you would hardly believe that they belong to the same
species. These birds are very abundant in the sprin