FACTS IX THE HISTORY OF THE COMMON CUCKOO. 171 



iBestSj and also to procure an old male in his breeding plumage, we lifted the 

 »oat on our shoulders, and at last, after many a rest, and occasionally drag- 

 ging her where the ground was level, we launched her in the said water; but 

 were much disappointed at finding nothing but Moor-hens and their nests: 

 however, after having obtained a very good variety of these birds' eggs — one 

 nest containing thirteen; and having had a very tiresome task in getting back our 

 boat, much to the amazement of ploughboys and cattle, we reached Wicken 

 at about eleven, and went into the fen chiefly in search of Grasshopper 

 Warblers, where, walking on briskly among the sedge, we succeeded in obtaining 

 several fine specimens; we also saw a very beautiful pair of Harriers, which 

 a man informed us had a nest among the reeds; I have since been informed 

 by G. Outram, Esq., that these birds were obtained soon after I left, with 

 their eggs; and proved to be Montagu's Harriers, (Circus Montagui;) a quantity 

 of Cuckoos, a few Turtle-Doves and Lapwing- Plovers; and the smaller species 

 of Sedge Warblers, were exceedingly numerous; and I fear ere we learned to 

 distinguinh them from the Grasshopper Warblers when on the wing, many were 

 sacrificed from their similitude. The former fly and appear much to resemble 

 the Hedge Accentor, {Accentor modulans, Cuv.,) and the la:;ter from having 

 reddish rumps may be readily known; when the Grasshopper Warblers 

 alight they seem to settle down as near as possible to the roots of the reeds; 

 and in one instance I saw one perch half-way up a reed, and creep down the 

 stem like a mouse. A few days intervening, I again visited the fen, and 

 was so fortunate as to obtain a Grasshopper Warbler's nest with six eggs: it 

 was built among the sedge very near the ground, and was composed of a little 

 moss lined with dry grass; the eggs were round-shaped, and thickly dotted 

 with light carnation spots. In the fen, on the sallow-bushes, 1 observed 

 caterpillars of the Common Tiger Moth, Scarlet Tiger Moth, Egger Moth, 

 find Drinker Moth, very numerous; and saw great quantities of Swallow-tail 

 Butterflies. 



Laiva House, Fhjmoutli, May 2()th., 1851. 



FACTS IN THE HISTOEY 

 OF THE COMMON CUCKOO, (CUCULUS GANOItUS.) 



BY J. MC'INTOSH, ESQ. 

 "Facts are stubborn things." 



At pages 11 and 12 of ^'The Naturalist," I have recorded, from actual 

 observation, the feeding of the young Cuckoo by its female parent, and that, 

 as long as it could procure them, with the caterpillars of Abraxas yrossiilariala 

 in the month of July, 1850, and that the female cries "Cuchoo, cuckoo." 

 These facts have been attacked and denied in a 'Weekly Newspaper, called 

 the '^^Gardener's Chronicle." Now in justice and fairness to your readers and 

 myself, I consider it my duty to produce sufficient recorded evidence from 



