Fulton. — The Pipiwharauroa, or Bronze Cuckoo. 403 



wanted to be fed by its foster-parents. I counted five warblers, one on the 

 hedge and four feeding the three cuckoos. On the third morning they 

 were still on the hedge, but about 10 o'clock they disappeared among the 

 trees. When birdnesting I have found sparrows' nests with strange eggs 

 in them, which I took to belong to the cuckoo." 



A correspondent from Rotherham says, " We have had two shining 

 cuckoos visiting our garden every day for the last week. The birds are, 

 one a well-grown young bird, the other an old bird. Their favourite haunt 

 is a pear-tree that has suffered rather much from the pear-slug, which they 

 seem to enjoy. In the early morning the birds are to be seen among the 

 fruit trees. The young one is very tame. I could have caught it with a 

 butterfly-net on more than one occasion. I never knew an old bird to stay 

 so late as this (21st February), even in Taranaki." 



Another correspondent says, " I have often seen a pair of warblers 

 feeding a yomig cuckoo in addition to their own offspring. I do not think 

 the cuckoo throws the young warblers out of the nest, for I have often seen 

 the parent warblers feeding one cuckoo — never more than one — and two 

 3'oung warblers. The parent cuckoos do not seem to eat much during their 

 stay here — I have never seen them eat anything but an occasional butterfly." 



A writer from North Taieri tells me that he saw some young cuckoos 

 about the 1st February on a kowhai-tree. The down feathers were still 

 there, though only a few to be seen. The plumage was nearly full, the 

 green not showing, the copper predominating. Towards the middle of the 

 month they had the first part of the adult cuckoo's notes, such as the adult 

 has in the early part of the season. Some years ago he saw one or two 

 very young birds being fed by warblers, but in this case he saw no foster- 

 parents near them. They seemed to be able to get their own supplies. The 

 green of the kowhai harmonized with their colour. 



From Mr. W. W. Smith's (36) account of the hatching of the young 

 bronze cuckoo it is evident that the egg which has been deposited in the 

 nest of the fantail, robin, or warbler takes about ten or twelve days to 

 hatch out, and very soon a tragedy indeed is witnessed. How strange that 

 while we have discussed the altruistic spirit in which many little birds 

 instinctively feed these peevish little orphans — frequently to the detriment 

 or, at any rate, discomfort or partial neglect of their own oft'spring — yet 

 here we have to face the fact that these very chicks have deliberately done 

 to death scores of individuals which had as much, if not more, right to live 

 than themselves. The young bird, within forty-eight hours of being hatched, 

 blind and almost helpless, fitted by nature with a peculiar hollow between 

 its shoulders (37), spreads its legs, fixes them firmly in the bottom of the 

 nest, wriggles first its head and then its back under one of its companions, 

 balances it, and grips it firmly between its shoulders, and gradually heaves 

 up, one by one, and pushes out through the opening of the nest, its unfor- 

 tunate foster brothers and sisters. 



In about ten days the young bird is fully fledged, and fat, having obtained 

 as much, if not more, food than a brood of four or five warblers would have 

 consumed. It bulges the nest to bursting-point, and probably tears it to 

 pieces in its efforts to get out. I can find no evidence on this point, even 

 about any of the Australian species, and the only descriptions recorded in 

 detail of our birds by the Rev. Mr. Taylor and Mr. W. W. Smith (36) con- 

 tain the bald statement only, " quitted the nest." I wish some of our Aus- 

 tralian ornithologists would refer to the young of the fantail cuckoo, and 

 give us details of their upbringing in the tiny little nest of the Acanthizce. 



