175 

 NOTES ON THE YOUNG CUCKOO. 



BY MR, CLEMENT JACKSON. 



Ix June 1849, a neighbour brought me a young Cuckoo nearly fledged, 

 which he had found in a hedge-bank in his field, I presume in the nest of 

 the Titlark, {Anthus pratensis,) that species being the foster-parent of all the 

 young Cuckoos I have been able to identify in this vicinity. I undertook to 

 rear it, and found no difficulty, as it fed readily on a paste of boiled egg 

 and bread rubbed in a mortar, and grew rapidly to a handsome bird, soon 

 taking to feed itself freely, picking up lumps of the paste, and jerking them 

 bac'c into its capacious throat with great dexterity. It appeared very fond 

 of this paste, and also devoured great numbers of cockroaches, {Blatta,) eating 

 one hundred and fifty good-sized ones in one dayj these were first scalded 

 and put into the cage deadj but its favourite morsel was the full-grown 

 larva of the egger or drinker moths, and such like hairy caterpillars, which 

 it would take from the hand with the extreme point of the beak, and pass 

 them rapidly through it several times backwards and forwards, in a very 

 curious and dexterous manner; it then beat them against the perch till the 

 viscera were got rid of, and swallowed the remainder. A cup of water was 

 fixed at the end of the perch, as it drank very freely; but was averse to 

 alighting on the floor of its habitation, (a large wicker Dove's cage,) which 

 it rarely did, except to feed; and then quickly resumed the perch, which it 

 held with a very tenacious grasp; the curious form of its foot being then seen 

 to advantage. 



About the middle of July, it became excessively restless at night; after 

 remaining tolerably quiet all day, about dusk in the evening it regularly 

 commenced, I presume, its fancied migratory journey; either fluttering against 

 the bars, or incessantly and vigorously fanning its wings whilst sitting on the 

 perch, as if in steady flight; and no doubt passing over many an imaginary 

 mile southwards. At these times I often took it out of the cage, and held 

 it on my finger, by candlelight; but it still continued its incessant and vigor- 

 ous flutter, looking eagerly about, and occasionally springing off" in a very 

 impatient manner; which it continued, whilst we remained with it, nightly 

 till its death. By this means its wings and tail got sadly mutilated, but it 

 did not at all lose flesh, continuing to feed heartily by day, and flutter vigor- 

 ously by night; till one day about the beginning of September, it got hurt 

 in attempting to fly towards the open window, which put an end to its career, 

 for although it survived a few days, it neither fed nor fluttered again. On 

 dissecting it to prepare the skeleton, I found it excessively fat, which probably 

 in part occasioned its death. 



A few years since, I was requested by an acquaintance, to examine a 

 Lark's nest, and ascertain the species for him. On approaching the spot, 

 the old bird, {Anthus pratensis,) flew out, and I found a naked young Cuckoo 

 solo occupant; the three young Titlarks lying dead close to the nest, very recently 



