HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-G OSSIP. 



105 



March, and deposits its yellow spawn about two 

 miles below Stirling bridge. It is singular to find 

 that, as a rule, the females preponderate considerably 

 over the males in numbers, the latter coming up 

 the river a few days later than the former. A fish 

 often sold in the fish-markets as the true Smelt, is 

 in reality the Atherine, or " Sand Smelt," which 

 seems to be peculiarly marine. Its flavour is slightly 

 like the true Smelt, but not so powerful or so 

 agreeable. Anatomically it is distinguished by the 

 firm rays in its second dorsal fiu, the true Smelt 

 possessing only a small adipose and somewhat rudi- 

 mentary fin instead. In fig. 67 we have engraved 

 the scale of this fish. 



The Norwich smelters have a peculiar custom : 

 most of them are dyers by trade, and endeavour to 

 pick up a little money by smelling at night. Of 

 course, after a good night's work there is usually 

 little dyeing done on the morrow ! In some of the 

 families smelting lias very likely been carried on for 

 generations. The men have certain rules, which 

 allow only so many fisliers to go out at a time ; 

 whilst each man takes his turn at the best "holes." 

 They regard amateurs or outsiders with the greatest 

 suspicion, although anybody who likes can fish if 

 Ihey choose. But that universal British solvent 

 called " beer," will do anything, and melt even the 

 heart of a smelter ! In this way you may get per- 

 mission to be in his boat, or may draw yours along- 

 side and try your luck at a cast. Supposing the 

 attempt be your first, the odds are that in casting 

 the net you will yourself follow it before you are 



aware 



J. E. Tayloh. 



THE CUCKOO. 



I HAVE often seen and heard descriptions of 

 the nesting habits and peculiarities of this 

 interesting bird, but I have a theory of my own on 

 the subject, which I have never seen stated else- 

 where, and which rests upon facts within my o'wn 

 observation. 



When I was a boy, I lived on the border of a 

 furzy down, covered with gorse, fern, and heath, 

 and therefore of course patronized by those pretty 

 little birds, the Stonechats. In the nest of one of 

 these, a cuckoo deposited an t^^, which in due 

 course developed into a birdling, the mingled 

 pride and terror of its foster-mother. While it 

 was in this state, my sister and I discovered the 

 nest ; and, from the disparity between its size and 

 that of its fellow-nestlings, we concluded that it 

 was a young cuckoo. We of course communicated 

 the tidings to our other sisters and brothers, and 

 scarce a day passed but one or two of us visited the 

 nest. One morning when I went, accompanied by 

 my sister as before, what was our horror to see 

 four little dead birdies lying on the ground outside 



the nest, and the young cuckoo, with another on 

 his broad back, conveying it, the fifth and last, to 

 tlic edge of the nest, and then deliberately heaving 

 it over. I was then too young to notice much, but 

 this scene made such an impression on me that I 

 don't think I shall ever forget it. When the young 

 cuckoo was fully fledged, we caged it, and it sur- 

 vived until November, but then it died, owing 

 either to the coldness of the climate or to its 

 migratory instinct being thwarted. 



Last summer I was going for a walk, and sat 

 down on the side of a hill where I was nearly hid 

 from observation. While enjoying the sunshine 

 and the view over the sen, I heard the cuckoo. I 

 looked round, and presently saw two birds in a 

 field about 100 yards distant, and watched them 

 for some time. After flying about the field, playing 

 with one another for a few minutes, one of them 

 flew up into a tree close by, and commenced 

 repeating his note, which ended, I noticed, in a 

 guttural " cucka-cuck," quite distinct from the 

 usual "cuckoo." The only analogous sound that 

 I can think of, is a turkey's note of defiance. 



Wlien this bird had seen whether the coast was 

 clear, he and his mate (whom, by the bye, I did 

 not once hear repeat their peculiar note, which 

 makes me disposed to believe that the female 

 cuckoo is mute) flew to the iiedge close by me ; 

 and, after a while, the female quitted the hedge, 

 and flew over my head towards the brow of the 

 hill, while her mate continued to repeat his mono- 

 tonous strain, varied with an occasional cucka-cuck. 

 In a few minutes she returned, followed nearly to 

 the hedge by a bird, which, as far as I could see, 

 was either a lark or a meadow pipit. I had seen 

 this occurrence frequently before, and my curiosity 

 was aroused, so I came out of my hiding-place 

 (much to the surprise of the pair of cuckoos, who 

 beat a precipitate retreat) and walked in the direc- 

 tion in which I had seen the cuckoo fly, in the 

 expectation of finding a lark or pipit's nest, and 

 therein a cuckoo's e^g. Nor was I mistaken ; for, 

 on looking about, after a very short search, I found 

 a pipit's nest with a cuckoo's egg quite warm in it. 

 This egg, with the help of a pin, I at once pro- 

 ceeded to blow ; but what was my astonishment to 

 find that, instead of being, as I thought, fresh laid, 

 the bird was quite formed, and just ready to burst 

 the shell. This incident gave me a notion that 

 cuckoos were not quite such careless and heartless 

 mothers as naturalists have represented them to 

 be, for 1 conjectured that this cuckoo's object must 

 have been to see how her offspring was getting on. 

 I determined to observe the next cuckoo or 

 cuckoo's egg that I came across, and indeed I was 

 heartily sorry for having destroyed the egg which I 

 had just found. 



I was one evening, about seven o'clock (it was 

 abnost midsummer) searching for the nest of a 



