30 JUNE 1933, Page 15

A Cucsoo's

• A young cuckoo in a robin's nest in my neighbourhood, Was fortunately hatched before the robins' own eggs which now litter the approaches. It is being fed with devotion by the parents and rather surprisingly, since they are a pugnac!ous tribe, robins arc among the very best' foster parents. Objections to such victimization are, I think, Commoner than is generally supposed. •Last year two wag- tails of my acquaintance grew completely disgusted with their base progeny. They neglected it and finally deserted it, in spite of the anguished screams of the young bird. It is alleged in bird books that the marsh warbler—a very rate bird in England, --is never victimized ; but ithappens that ths only marsh warblers' nest of which I know was found by ths keeper of the sanctuary to contain a cuckoo's egg. But that is not the end of the story. The day after he found the egg had vanished and after much seeking he found it in the ooze under the nest. It would seem that `not the Culekoo but the warbler is the cause ofthe Marsh warbler's Immunity

W. BEACH