mu 



122 Campbell, Obsevvations on the Rearing of a Cuckoo. [,st'"; 



of the young Sericornis, which I had put back with it. 

 However, at 4 o'clock, when I next had an opportunity of 

 visiting the nest, the young Scrub-Wren was again lying ejected 

 on the platform outside, and the hen parent Sericornis was sitting 

 on her queer charge. 



This time, when the young Scrub-Wren was returned to the 

 nest, the Cuckoo immediately became restless, wriggling round 

 so that its rear end instead of its head faced the entrance. In 

 all its movements it used its arms freely, and occasionally raised 

 itself on its feet. The young Scrub- Wren, as replaced in the 

 nest, rested partly on the body of the Cuckoo, which filled the 

 whole of the bottom of the nest. The Cuckoo, having turned 

 round, now raised itself on its feet, carrying the other nestling 

 with it. Feeling its way backwards toward the entrance with 

 its distended arms, with which it could easily span the interior, it 

 reared up, and the Scrub-Wren dropped out on to the very edge 

 of the mouth of the nest. Had the Cuckoo stopped here its 

 victim could have struggled back. But it did not. Rearing itself 

 still further, at the same time straining its head in the other 

 direction to preserve its balance, the Cuckoo then placed its 

 arms outside the entrance of the nest, and with a final heave, in 

 which its " pope's nose " played the most important part, the 

 unfortunate nest-mate was sent to its doom. At this stage of 

 the operations the Cuckoo's body came outside the entrance and 

 were it not for its having retained a tight hold with the feet, 

 straining the head as far as possible inward, it might have been 

 itself in danger of over-balancing. This exhibition of inherent 

 instinct did not take more than one minute, and after the eject- 

 ment the Cuckoo hung panting in the entrance for a space of 32 

 seconds before floundering back into the nest. The young 

 Scrub-Wren was returned thrice and each time it was as 

 summarily ejected. And again in the evening, about 5.30 p.m., 

 when in company with my father, Mr. A. J. Campbell, I visited 

 the nest, the Cuckoo, which the foster-mother was again keeping 

 warm, undertook the eviction three times more, with the same 

 precision. It was noticed that the struggling victim to a small 

 degree can help itself, for on the last occasion it wriggled down 

 twice into the main part of the nest before its enemy got it 

 finally fair and square upon its broad back. 



When removed from the nest and placed on a piece of board 

 the Cuckoo showed great activity. With head outstretched it 

 walked, not unsteadily, on its legs, using its strong fore-arms for 

 support in front, much as an old man might use two sticks. If 

 the board were sloped in any direction the young bird im- 

 mediately turned and went uphill — a habit which is common to 

 many insects as well. When placed on the platform in front of 

 the nest it immediately scrambled up into the entrance. 



