Observations on the Cuckoo. 325 



in the same place. [In VI. 460. is recorded an instance of a 

 bird's nest, with eggs, being found, in the centre of the trunk 

 of a larch tree, by sawyers in their sawing of the trunk.] I 

 made another excavation, in an ash tree about two hundred 

 yards from this ; and, last summer, it gave me an increase of 

 three tawny owls. Throughout the winter, I could, at any 

 time, find them reposing in some neighbouring fir trees. 



The tawny owl generally lays four snow-white eggs in the 

 same hole which it had chosen for its winter quarters. I am 

 satisfied in my own mind that no owl in the world ever gathers 

 materials to form the lining of its nest. Indeed, there is no 

 necessity whatever for it to take that trouble: nature makes a 

 sufficient provision for the lining of the hole to which the owl 

 resorts, long before the breeding-time sets in. Every species 

 of this bird ejects from the stomach all the indigestible parts 

 of their food, in the shape of a dark-coloured oblong bolus; 

 which, when dried, is soon reduced to fragments by the 

 superincumbent body of the bird. On this the female lays 

 her eggs ; nor could she well procure a better or a softer 

 substance for them. 



Trifling as an attention to the feathered tribe may seem, 

 still it has its sweets for those who love to lead a rural life. I 

 generally observe that visiters who come here are always 

 anxious to have a sight of the birds which take up their 

 abode in this sequestered valley ; and they listen with evident 

 signs of pleasure to the cries of the nocturnal wanderers of 

 the air. It is not above a week ago that I heard the heron 

 screaming, the wigeon whistling, the barn owl screeching, and 

 the tawny owl hooting, in rapid succession. The moon was 

 playing on the water at the time, and the air was nearly as 

 warm as summer. I thought of times long past and gone, 

 when I was enjoying nature's richest scenery in the intermin- 

 able forests of Guiana. 



Walton Hall, April 3. 1835. 



Art. IV. Observations on the Cuckoo. By Edward Blyth. 



It is a fact very far from being creditable to the naturalists 

 of Europe, that, whilst a single individual (Wilson) has been 

 able to furnish us with a most satisfactory and detailed account 

 of the peculiarities of that very remarkable species, the cattle 

 bird, or cow-bunting (Molothruspecoris Swainson), of North 

 America, the only bird, not a cuckoo, which is known to de- 

 posit its eggs in another bird's nest, the history of the Euro- 



z 3 



