406 Transactions. 



inflicts her eggs on many birds, and the chicks are fed by the foster-parents 

 and other kind-hearted birds, notably the warbler, which does not hatch the 

 eggs. Now, when we have a habit such as this, which has been acquired, 

 and which is quite different from the original custom of the birds, we expect 

 occasionally to have what is know as atavism cropping up — that is, a 

 reversion to the original instinct of nest-building. This is exactly what 

 we do find with cuckoos in different parts of the world. 



An instance has been recorded (-45) of the great spotted cuckoo of Europe 

 having built a nest and hatched its young, though the statement was at the 

 time discredited by ornithologists. The true Indian cuckoos are strictly 

 parasitic, and Hierococcyx sparveroidcs is considered by most observers to 

 be universally so. The Indian cuckoos are seldom seen in pairs, generally 

 singly or in small parties ; but this particular species is said by Allan 

 Hume (46) to be more often seen in pairs than any of the others. That this 

 is an evidence of a leaning towards domesticity we find in the interesting 

 fact that Mr. R. H. Morgan, of the Madras Forestry Department, avers 

 that on one occasion he watched this species actually build its own nest, 

 and that he then removed the eggs, of which four were laid. 



It is reported of the Kermadec Islands (47) that a reliable observer there 

 has seen old long-tailed cuckoos feeding their young, and he considers that 

 they build their own nest and bring up their young themselves. There is 

 no doubt in my mind that in those cases where a pair of cuckoos are seen 

 together with a number of yomig ones, the cuckoos have hatched out their 

 brood. There is a strong impression in my mind that the group of fully 

 fledged young birds seen by themselves at North Taieri, able to feed them- 

 selves, and having no foster-parents near them, were a brood that had 

 been hatched out together and brought up by their own parents. 



In addition to this, cuckoos very often feed young birds. Mr. Ivy (48) 

 gives several instances of African cuckoos lurking about nests, and he saw 

 two adult birds {Coccystes glandarius) with five young ones all flying to- 

 gether. This may have been a pair which had mated, built a nest, and 

 hatched out their young ; but Mr. Ivy was of the opinion that the old 

 birds had merely collected their brood previous to migrating. 



A gentleman from Nelson, well known to myself to be a thoroughly 

 reliable observer, has sent me the following interesting letter, dated the 

 25th September, 1908: " I have had exceptional opportunities of becoming 

 acquainted with the habits of our native birds, extending over a period 

 of nearly fiftv years. Last summer I was prospecting on the Wautui River 

 a week or two before Christmas, and I noticed a pair of these bronze cuckoos 

 close to the camp. I watched them carefully, and they seemed to spend all 

 their time catching flies over a stilt pool in the river, and continually flying 

 into the bush in one direction. My mate and I spent considerable time day 

 after day trying to find the nest, but could not do so. At last, one morning 

 about daylight, we saw seven of them all round the same pool — five of them 

 were obviously very youiig, as they could only fly a very short distance at a 

 time. The five young ones would sit on a branch, often the same branch, 

 side by side, and would not change from the position for quite a long time, 

 the old birds continually feeding them, but never the same one twice in 

 succession. This went on for about two or three weeks, every day the 

 youngsters becoming more like the old birds, and taking longer flights. 

 At last, about a month from the time we first saw them, they disappeared, 

 and we never saw them again. Some days after they left I quite accident- 

 ally found what I feel cei-tain was their nest. It was in a dry cabbage-tree, 



