Natural History of' the Cuckoo. 297 



as is evident from the following passage, extracted from the remarks on 

 that bird given in his recently published History of British Animals. 

 " In some cases, however," he observes, " it appears that the Cuckoo 

 " constructs its own nest. Thus, in a manuscript of Derham's, on In- 

 " stinct, communicated by Pennant to Barrington, it is stated, that ' the 

 " Rev. Mr. Stafford was walking in Glossop Dale, in the Peak of Der- 

 " byshire, and saw a Cuckoo rise from its nest, which was on the stump 

 " of a tree, that had been some time felled, so as much to resemble the 

 " colour of the bird. In this nest were two young Cuckoos, one of 

 " which he fastened to the ground, by means of a peg and line, and 

 " very frequently, for many days, beheld the old Cuckoo feed these her 

 " young ones.' " 



In my observations on the Cuckoo, printed in the Memoirs of the Li- 

 terary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, Vol. IV, new series, I 

 have pointed out several circumstances which completely invalidate Mr. 

 Stafford's account, to which, unfortunately, so much importance has been 

 attached. " That Mr. Stafford," I quote from my paper, " must have 

 " been mistaken needs scarcely to be insisted on, since Mr. Jenner has 

 " shewn, that when two young Cuckoos happen to be hatched in the 

 " same nest, the stronger invariably turns out the weaker. The nest 

 '' which Mr. Stafford found, from the number of young it contained, 

 " most probably belonged to a Goatsucker, as I know that this species, 

 " which seldom lays more than two or three eggs, breeds in the neigh- 

 " bourhood of Glossop ; and it might easily be mistaken for a Cuckoo, 

 " by a person not very familiar with birds, who had only an opportunity, 

 " of observing it at a distance. If this gentleman had been a good Or- 

 " nithologist, would he not have endeavoured to remove every possibility 

 " of doubt in a matter which it is evident greatly excited his interest, by 

 " examining and describing the structure of the feet of these young 

 " birds .^" It is gratifying to find that the conclusions here arrived at are 

 supported by Dr. Jenner, whose opinion will command attention, in the 

 view he takes of the subject in his Essay on the Migration of Birds.* 



Another supposed instance of a Cuckoo having incubated its eggs and 

 nourished its young, which had escaped my former researches, is given 



* Transactions of the Royal Society for 1824, 



