Habits of the Cuckoo. 381 



•£ The Young of the Cuckoo are severally committed to the Hatch- 

 ing and Rearing of Foster- Parents, from the Inability of the 

 Parent Pair of Cuckoos to Support their own Young collectively .~\ 

 — You have stated, in p. 294., that I have " alluded, in V. 675., 

 to the cuckoo's destroying the eggs of the pied wagtail, as a 

 matter known to " me. You will find, on reference to my 

 communication in V. 674, 675., that it does not warrant such 

 a conclusion; nor has my experience led me to believe in the 

 prevalent notion of the cuckoo sucking the eggs of other birds, 

 although it is very probable she might have abstracted an egg 

 of the pied wagtail to make room for hers, as instanced by 

 my friend Mr. Hoy. (V. 278.) The pied wagtail often lays 

 six eggs. [The remark on which I based my inference is 

 this : — "I was led to suspect that she [the cuckoo] had de- 

 stroyed their [a pair of pied wagtails'] eggs." This suspicion 

 of this case, in this instance, I had deemed indicative of an 

 experience of this case in previous instances. — J. D.~] 



I cannot think the cuckoo ever makes use of the eggs of 

 other birds as an article of food, it being entirely insectivorous ; 

 and I suspect that it is owing to this circumstance, that it is 

 obliged to abandon the care of its offspring to foster-parents ; 

 for it would be utterly impossible for a pair of cuckoos to 

 collect anything like the quantity of food sufficient for a family 

 of four or five of its own young, when the quantity of food 

 that is required to promote the rapid and unparalleled growth 

 -of a single individual is so enormous, as to require the greatest 

 exertions of its foster-parents to furnish a sufficiency. — John 

 D. Salmon. Thetford, Norfolk, May 18. 1835. 



[It is pleasant to set oneself right with one's friends. I had 

 drawn on Mr. Salmon for a larger amount than he wills to 

 sanction ; although those equivocal things, words, did seem 

 to warrant the amount of my draft. Mr. Blyth has cited, in 

 p. 327, 328., and note *, a remark of mine : it will be safe 

 to note, timely, that my remark is scarcely my opinion ; the 

 remark arose out of consideration of the facts cited, and not 

 out of a course of experience favouring the opinion suggested 

 in the remark. — J. D.~] 



Materials of the Food of the Adult Cuckoo. (298, 299. 339, 

 540.) — "A cuckoo, that was examined here the other day, 

 had its stomach quite full of individuals of the May chaffer 

 (Melolontha vulgaris)." — E. Blyth, in p. 366. of the present 

 Number. " The cuckoo casts up the skins of caterpillars in 

 pellets about the size of a robin's egg." — Id. in p. 367. 



In p. 413. of the present Number, in the remarks on the 

 red-backed shrike, is various information on the cuckoo. 



{The Pied Wagtail is the Foster-Parent of the Cuckoo, per- 



D D 3 



