328 Observations on the Cuckoo. 



merous than those instances known of by man, in which the 

 owners retain it." This I am inclined to doubt; but the fact 

 may be easily ascertained by a few experiments ; and skylarks', 

 or any other similar eggs, would answer this purpose quite as 

 well as those of the cuckoo. Let those, however, who would 

 try the experiment upon a chaffinch's nest, remove all the 

 chaffinch's eggs, and leave that which they introduce alone in 

 their place; for this I have never hitherto done.* The Ame- 

 rican cattle-bird, which belongs to the natural family Sturnidae, 

 is, as might be supposed, a much more omnivorous species 

 than our cuckoo, and it would seem also to be even more 

 indiscriminate in its choice of the foster-parents for its young ; 

 yet there are one or two particular species which certainly 

 appear most frequently to be selected, and the chief of these 

 is a little bird called the Maryland yellow-throat (Trichas 

 personalis Swaznson), which, it is worthy of remark, ap- 

 proaches nearer, both in structure and habits, to our hedge 

 chanter (Accentor modularis) than to any other species of 

 European bird. M. Temminck speaks also of thrushes, and 

 even shrikes, as being sometimes foster-parents of the cuckoo; 

 and I am myself credibly informed, by different persons, of two 

 instances of the cuckoo's egg being found alone in blackbirds' 

 nests, and once, alone, in a song thrush's ; in which latter it 

 was hatched and reared. I am informed, also, of its having 

 occurred in the nests of the skylark [p. 288.], yellow bunting 

 [p. 288.], reed bunting [p. 288.], and sedge-warbler. 



The American cattle-bird has been well ascertained to be 

 polygamous, or, rather, to live in a promiscuous state of concu- 

 binage; and there is certainly every reason to believe that our 

 cuckoo does the same. To speak from my own observation, 

 and from that of one or two of my friends, I should say, de- 

 cidedly, that they form no attachments amongst themselves : 

 yet I am told by two very close and accurate observers, that 

 they have noticed them very often to remain in pairs. It is 

 not, however, the slightest proof of their being monogamous 

 that the male cuckoo is frequently seen to pursue the female ; 

 on the contrary, throughout the season, it is not at all un- 

 usual to see even two or three males following a single in- 

 dividual of the other sex, and quarrelling and buffeting each 

 other as they fly. For what purpose, may I ask, does nature 

 prompt monogamous birds to form permanent seasonal attach- 

 ments, but for the due and proper maintenance of the young? 



* Since writing the above, however, I have performed this experiment ; 

 but I find that I must do so again and again, before I can venture to de- 

 duce any general conclusion. I am now inclined to suspect that, as 

 Mr. Denson suggests, the cuckoo's egg is not unfrequently turned out. 



