II 



RESPECTABLE CUCKOOS 



THE general public derives its ideas regarding 

 the manners and customs of the cuckoos 

 from those of Cuculus canorus, the only 

 species that patronises the British Isles. 

 " The Man in the Street," that unfortunate individual 

 who seems never by any chance to catch hold of the 

 right end of the stick, is much surprised, or is expected 

 to express great surprise, when he is informed that some 

 cuckoos are not parasitic, that not a few of them 

 refuse to commit their eggs and young ones to the 

 tender mercies of strangers. The non-parasitic cuckoos 

 build nests, lay eggs and sit on them, as every self- 

 respecting bird should do. All the American species 

 of cuckoo lead virtuous lives in this respect. But the 

 Western Hemisphere has its evil-hving birds, for many 

 cow-birds — ^near relatives of the starlings — lay their 

 eggs in the nests of their fellow-creatures ; some of them 

 go so far as to victimise the more respectable members 

 of their own brotherhood. 



There are several upright cuckoos among our Indian 

 birds, so that there is no necessity for us to go to 

 America in order to study the ways of the non-parasitic 

 species of cuckoo. 



9 



