330 Observations on the Cuckoo. 



had an egg almost ready to lay.* I give this upon unques- 

 tionable authority. It is worthy of remark, also, that the 

 note of the cuckoo is very much affected by the state of the 

 weather. During a period of drought, it gradually becomes 

 more and more hoarse, till at length the first syllable of it is 

 often broken into two or three ; but no sooner does a breeze 

 arise from the south-west, than, before even a haze obscures 

 the sky, it immediately softens, and is pronounced quite 

 musically and distinct. 



I very much suspect that cuckoos have never any fixed 

 abode, like other birds, but are ever wandering about from 

 place to place : this can only be satisfactorily ascertained in 

 situations where the cuckoo is comparatively a rare bird. 



Another particular, upon which it is most desirable to 

 obtain correct information, is the precise manner in which the 

 cuckoo deposits its egg, Mr. Hoy's very valuable informa- 

 tion (quoted in p. 294.) shows, most conclusively, that, some- 

 times at least, it is certainly laid into the nest ; for the bird 

 was noticed to be " a few minutes " in the hole ; and it was 

 also seen, upon its reappearance, to be carrying away some- 

 thing in its bill, which proved to be the wagtail's egg. Now, 

 it has been suggested that the cuckoo may not always be able 

 to find a suitable nest, exactly when she wants to lay ; and 

 that, therefore, in all probability, she must sometimes deposit 

 her egg upon the ground; and afterwards, until she can find 

 a proper nest to place it in, carry it about in her mouth, 

 which, for this special purpose, is large and capacious : and 

 this has been deemed a most satisfactory explanation of the 

 reported fact of the egg having been found in situations where 

 it could not possibly have been laid. I rather think, how- 

 ever, that, if the hen cuckoo were thus in the habit of carry- 

 ing about an egg in her mouth, this one would not have been 

 carrying the wagtail's egg between her mandibles: very little, 

 however, can in either way be deduced from this circum- 

 stance. 



There certainly are some reported instances, which seem 

 to rest upon good authority, of the cuckoo's egg having been 

 found in situations where it was physically impossible for the 

 bird to have laid it. For example, Montbeillard's case, in a 

 wren's nest ; and especially that of Dr. Jenner, who is said 

 to have found a cuckoo's egg in the nest of a wagtail, in a 



* May 8. I have just been told by a young friend, that, this morning, 

 as he was fishing, he observed a male cuckoo pursue the female, and both 

 of them shortly alighted upon the tree under which he was sitting. In this 

 case, only the male bird uttered the call cuckoo. What the swift performs 

 in the air, and the martin in its nest, was observed, in this species, upon 

 the tree. 



