THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



153 



Bearing on this point, I possess further evidence from Mr. 

 Win. P. Best, Branxholme, who wrote some time ago : — " I am 

 of opinion that occasionally the Broad-billed Bronze Cuckoo 

 deposits its egg in the Acanthiza's nest before that bird has laid 

 its eggs, and that when this happens the Acanthiza covers the 

 strange egg with a thick layer of feathers. I have found several 

 cuckoos' eggs thus covered with a dense layer of feathers in every 

 instance ; the lining of the nest has been much in excess of what 

 is usually found. It also seems to me that the cuckoo's egg 

 hatches in somewhat less time than the other eggs in the nest. 

 I have been unable to verify this, however. What I have noticed 

 is that in nests where a cuckoo's egg is found that egg is always 

 in a more forward state of incubation than the others, and where 

 I have found a young Cuckoo there have (or nearly) always been 

 eggs broken (not young birds) under the nest." 



It will be observed that the eggs of the two little Bronze 

 Cuckoos, G. plagosus and C. basalis, are totally dissimilar in 

 colouring, notwithstanding that the respective reputed parents are 

 almost exactly alike, both in colour and size. Both wear coats of 

 glorious golden-green. However, the Narrow-billed may be dis- 

 tinguished, as its name implies, by its slightly smaller and 

 narrower bill, more mottled plumage on the throat and chest — 

 not so barred as in the other variety — and by several (6) of the 

 tail feathers being rufous or chestnut-coloured at their base. 

 The young of both species on leaving the nest are hardly to be 

 separated from each other, but at about three months old they 

 possess the same characteristic markings as their parents. It 

 would be of great interest if some of our oologists could explain 

 the apparent anomaly in the colouration of the eggs, for ex- 

 perience teaches us that in nearly every genus the true typical 

 egg of each species is not without characteristic resemblance. 



With reference to the supposed ousting by the young cuckoo 

 of its foster brethren, I do not think it applies in all cases, if at 

 all, because if we consider, say, the Pallid and Fantailed Cuckoos, 

 their rapid growth in size, compared with the smaller foster 

 family, the latter would be soon crushed or starved out of 

 existence; moreover, the nest could not contain them all. In any 

 case there appears an all-wise provision in the plans of their 

 Creator for the maintenance of their (the cuckoo) species, for it 

 may be readily understood that it occupies the whole time of a 

 pair of tiny foster parents to satiate the rapacious maw of their 

 large foster chick, without being encumbered with a brood of 

 their own offspring. 



