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so that their visit to this district seems confined entirely to the time 

 necessary for seeking suitable places wherein to deposit their eggs, which 

 they do in the nests of other birds. The Cuckoo is the only bird known 

 to manifest this almost unnatural disposition. It has been ascertained 

 without doubt, that the common European Cuckoo, and several foreign 

 species, deposit their eggs in this strange manner, none of the species 

 afterwards attending to the fate of the egg, or to the after rearing of the 

 young. 



The Cuckoo does not pair, but is polygamous. The first eggs are 

 seldom laid before the middle of May, or not until the birds have been 

 here three weeks or a month. The egg, which is about equal in size to 

 that of the skylark, is very small, considering the bulk of the bird which 

 lays it. It is white, closely freckled over with grey, or sometimes reddish 

 brown, and generally has a few darker specks at the larger end. Not 

 building a nest for itself, the Cuckoo deposits its eggs singly, and at 

 intervals of a few days, in the nests of a variety of other birds, and leaves 

 them to be hatched and the young reared, by the foster parents. The 

 nests in which the Cuckoo's eggs are most frequently deposited are those 

 of the hedge sparrow, meadow pipit, pied wagtail, and reed warbler ; 

 but occasional instances have been known of their being deposited in 

 the nests of about fifty other birds. 



I may here mention cases of Cuckoo's eggs and young Cuckoos 

 which have been found in this district. A young Cuckoo was found in a 

 meadow pipit's nest just behind Field Side, a few years ago. I remember 

 seeing a young Cuckoo at the upper end of Thirlmere, which was just so 

 far fledged as to prevent my catching it. I may mention that Mr. 

 Greenip, of Keswick, found a Cuckoo's egg in the nest of a twite, or 

 mountain linnet, in Newlands, on the 24th of May, 1858; also one at 

 the same place, in a meadow pipit's nest, on the 27th of May, 1859. 

 The eggs are extremely rare to meet with, and Mr. Greenip, who has 

 been a collector of birds' eggs all his life, never remembers finding more 

 than these two. 



Mr. Dickinson of Corkickle, near Whitehaven, has kindly sent me 

 some information respecting the Cuckoo. He says, " For many years I 



