472 SCANSORES, OE CLIMBERS. 



shell. Thus, when the mother returns, she finds the same number of 

 eggs that she left. It is from this cause one frequently sees pieces 

 of egg-shell surrounding the nests where Cuckoos have deposited 

 their progeny. This action on the part of the birds denotes 

 perfect reasoning powers, and consequently real intelligence. 

 What say the great philosophers to it, who refuse this faculty 

 to animals ? When it has thus left its eo-ffs to nurse, the 

 female comes several times to see that they are well cared for, 

 and does not leave the neighbourhood till she is assured that such 

 is the case. She is not quite so free from solicitude about the 

 Avelfare of her young as one at first thinks. Thus we can under- 

 stand why the female Cuckoo does not herself discharge her 

 maternal functions. Laying her eggs at considerable intervals, 

 she would find that to cover several eggs and to raise a young- 

 one at the same time was incompatible, for the latter duty 

 involves frequent absences which would destroy the eggs, to which, 

 during incubation, an equal and constant temperature is necessary. 

 It is not then indifference, but thought, that causes her to confide 

 to others her maternal cares. The young Cuckoo is no sooner 

 hatched than he employs his infant strength to get rid of the true 

 children of his foster-parents, in order to be the only one to profit 

 by their attentions ; he glides under the frail creatures, gets them on 

 his back — where he holds them by means of his raised wings — and 

 precipitates them one after another from the nest. The mother, 

 though thus cruelly treated in return for her aff'ection, generally 

 retains her love for this perfidious child of her adoption, and 

 provides for all its wants until the time of its departure. Some- 

 times, however, she is so angry at the loss of her young, that 

 she brings no nourishment to the monster, and lets it die of 

 starvation. 



Honey Guides, or Indicators {Indicator, Vail.), have their place 

 next to Cuckoos. These are little birds inhabiting the interior of 

 Africa. They feed on insects, and especially delight in the pupae of 

 bees; they employ very curious manoeuvres in order to procure them, 

 which denote perfect intelligence. When one of these birds dis- 

 covers a hive, it endeavours to attract the attention of the first 

 person it meets by frequently-repeated cries. When observed it 



