Cuckoo hatched by the Pied Wagtail. 283 



Art. VII. Short Communications. 



A SHORT Account of two Cuckoos caged by me, in 1834. 

 The first I bought of a boy for 6d. 9 on June 1 4., almost full- 

 fledged. This bird would never take its meat without cram- 

 ming, which I attribute to its being too old a bird when first 

 caged. It died suddenly, at about eleven o'clock at night, on 

 July 22., in the hand of the servant ; who, hearing it cry out, 

 had taken it in her hand to see what was the matter with it. 

 It was very fat when dead. The second was brought to me 

 on July 12. ; a much younger bird, not having lost its nest- 

 ling feathers. . I allowed it to have its liberty in my kitchen 

 for about a month. I afterwards put it in a cage. This bird 

 always took its meat freely, when offered it from the hand ; 

 was very fond of the servant who attended it ; and especially 

 of myself, the very person who had deprived it of its liberty. 

 But if any other part of the family, or strangers, approached 

 its cage, it always seemed uneasy. I placed this and the one 

 previously spoken of in the same cage ; but they did not agree. 



In November, 1834, the inside of its [the second's] mouth 

 became almost white. [Naturally it is, while the bird is in 

 the nestling state, of a blood-red colour.] The bird lost, by 

 some accident, the nail of the large toe on each foot. It fre- 

 quently drank, which it did by sudden jerks. Its bill, in the 

 beginning of 1835, began to change; the old one began to 

 peel or shell off. 



I was very careful in my management of it during the cold 

 weather, placing its cage on a stool by the side of the fire, 

 wrapping its cage over with a blanket, keeping a good fire all 

 night, and feeding it with raw beef. By this management, I 

 kept it alive until Feb. 4. ; on which day it seemed very 

 poorly, and refused its meat all the morning. I then killed 

 it ; but, before I had done so, my servants assured me that it 

 had cried cuckoo very distinctly. It knew my footsteps and 

 voice in a moment. — B. T. G. Gloucester. [Received, 

 Feb. 14. 1833.] 



The Cuckoo hatched and nurtured by the Pied Wagtail. — 

 The following interesting fact has been just related to me by 

 a friend residing at Cheshunt, who witnessed it last spring : 

 — A cuckoo had been hatched by a water wagtail in the 

 neighbourhood ; and, as soon as the former was fledged, the 

 two birds appeared together every morning, about nine 

 o'clock, for nearly a fortnight, on the lawn in front of his house ; 

 which, though in an exposed situation, having merely a low 

 hedge to divide it from the public road, is a famous resort of 

 birds, no doubt from the facility afforded by the close-mowed 



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