224 Wild Birds and their Haunts 



THE COMMON CUCKOO (CUCULUS 

 CANORUS). 



FROM time immemorial this bird has excited extra- 

 ordinary interest, not only with children, but 

 wherever it is found people of all ages rejoice to 

 hear its clear note in the spring It is supposed to be the 

 harbinger of sunny skies and bursting foliage, and it 

 carries with it dear associations wherever it goes, while its 

 great peculiarity of locating itself in the nests of other 

 birds, and therein depositing its eggs, has created an 

 interest and curiosity amongst naturalists and others 

 beyond the usual limit. 



Another peculiar phase is the indifference with which it 

 regards these deposits, for it relegates, with entire con- 

 fidence, the charge of its young to the alien. Situation 

 has, apparently, nothing to do with it, for this custom is 

 universal with this species of bird. Indeed, it has puzzled 

 ornithologists and naturalists alike, through the ages. Its 

 structure, food, and habits are not dissimilar to others of 

 the migratory tribe, but its process of incubation remains 

 a mystery. No doubt it might have been managed in the 

 usual course, but there can be no doubt also that the 

 departure from it has been so arranged as to fill up or 

 complete some principle in the economy of this special 

 tribe of birds, or, as an old writer puts it, ' ' some link in 

 the zoological chain which has not entered the mind of 

 the curious in nature," and one would suggest that a 

 probable means of discovering the bearings of thi% myste- 

 rious deviation would be to endeavour to connect it with 

 analogous cases in the other branches, where the variety 

 of circumstances by which it would be developed might 

 lead to something which would unlock the mystery. 



Birds possessing this parasitical economy are exceed- 

 ingly few in numbers. 



It arrives in April, ana immediately proclaims the fact 

 to its mate. This is continued unremittingly until the 

 breeding season has passed, the note gradually becoming 



