iiS JOTTINGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



In their mode of reproduction many of the 

 Cuckoos are profoundly interesting. Some of the 

 species (such as the Ground Cuckoos, and the 

 members of the American genus Coccyz.us) in this 

 family provide for and bring up their young in the 

 usual way — by building nests, incubating their own 

 eggs, and tending their offspring until they can 

 forage for themselves. The species in some of the 

 other genera are, however, confirmed Parasites — birds 

 with no parental instincts, who deposit their eggs in 

 the nests of widely different species, and leave their 

 offspring to be reared by foster-parents. So far as 

 is known the Cuckoos are, with one exception, the 

 only birds with parasitic instincts. This exception 

 is to be found amongst the Icteridt^ or American 

 Orioles, the species in the genus Molothrus (of which 

 the well-known Cow Bird, M. pecoris, is an example), 

 for instance, being parasitical. These Orioles are 

 Passerine birds, and, it need scarcely be said, only 

 very distantly related to the Cuckoos. The origin 

 of this degraded habit in two such very distinct 

 groups is still shrouded in mystery ; that it is a 

 very ancient and deeply-rooted habit seems proved, 

 or at least very strongly confirmed, by the fact that 

 the various and complicated conditions which insure 

 its efficiency are so wonderfully and beautifully 



