124 THE COMMON CUCKOO. 



on its back, or on its half-expanded wing, in order to gain sufficient 

 elevation to put the food into its mouth. At this advanced age it ia 

 probable that the young Cuckoos procure some food for themselves; 

 like the young Rook, for instance, which in part feeds itself, and is 

 partly fed by the old ones, till the approach of the pairing season." 



The same instinctive impulse which directs the Cuckoo to deposit 

 her eggs in the nests of other birds, directs her young-one to throw oat 

 the eggs and young of the owner of the nest. The scheme of nature 

 would be incomplete without it ; for it would be difficult, if not im- 

 possible, for the birds destined to find nourishment for the Cuckoo, to 

 find it also for their own young-ones, after a certain period ; nor would 

 there be room for them all to inhabit the nest. 



The above are certainly well-attested instances of the Cuckoo's 

 laying its eggs in the nests, and trusting its young to the protection 

 of other birds ; but there are instances, equally well attested, of their 

 hatching and feeding their own nestlings. The Rev. Mr. Stafford, one 

 day waliiing in Blossopdale, in Derbyshire, saw a Cuckoo rise from its 

 nest ; which was on the stump of a tree that had been some time felled. 

 In this nest there were two young Cuckoos ; one of which he fastened 

 to the ground by a peg and line ; and, for many days beheld the old 

 Cuckoo feed them. Mr. Daines Barrington, who recorded this account, 

 had been informed of two other instances of Cuckoo's nests, in which 

 the proper parents fed their 3^oung; the one within four miles of London, 

 and the other on the south-west coast of Merionethshire. 



It has been conjectured by some persons, that, during winter, the 

 Cuckoo remains in England, hidden in hollow trees, and in a torpid 

 state. In support of this opinion, Mr. Willoughby, in his Ornithology, 

 relates the following story : " The servants of a gentleman in the coun- 

 try, having stocked up, in one of the meadows, some old, dry, rotten 

 willows, thought proper, on a certain occasion, to carry them home. 

 In heating a stove, two logs of this timber were put into the lower 

 part, and fire was applied as usual. But soon, to the surprise of the 

 family, was heard the voice of a Cuckoo, chirping three times from 

 under the stove. Wondering at so extraordinary a cry in winter-time, 

 the servants drew the willow logs from the furnace, and in the midst 

 of one of them they saw something move ; when, taking an axe, they 

 opened the hole, and, thrusting in their hands, first they plucked out 

 nothing but feathers ; afterwards they got hold of a living animal, and 

 this was the Cuckoo that the fire had awaked. It was, indeed, 

 (continues our historian,) brisk and lively, but wholly naked and bare 

 of feathers, and without any winter provision in its hole. This Cuckoo 

 the boys kept two years afterwards alive in the stove; but whether it 

 repaid them with a second song, the author of the tale has not thought 

 fit to inform us." 



A few years ago a young Cuckoo was found, in a torpid state, in 

 the thickest part of a furze bush. When taken up, it soon exhibited 

 signs of life, but was quite destitute of feathers. Being kept warm, 

 and carefully fed, it grew and recovered its coat. In the ensuing 

 spring it made \t^ escape; and, in flying across the river Tyne, waa 

 heard to sive its usual call. 



