At Headcorn. 185 



sacrifice themselves, even to death itself, for the 

 young cuckoo, in such a manner as they are not 

 required to do for their own offspring. And even 

 when they survive the demands made upon them in 

 feeding such a monster, late broods are made im- 

 possible, and this must have, on all analogy, a detri- 

 mental influence on the sexual organs. The instinct 

 of these birds in this direction is therefore unmis- 

 takeably one that is from first to last only injurious 

 to themselves ; consequently destructive to them as 

 a species, whilst to the cuckoo it is absolutely and 

 entirely beneficial. Cases on cases might be cited 

 here to prove that, not only do the small birds sacri- 

 fice themselves for the cuckoos, but actually compete 

 with each other for the " privilege." As we correct 

 this proof we read in The Daily TeUf^raph the letter 

 of a correspondent : 



" By the side of a farmhouse at Headcorn (Kent) a 

 strange sight may be seen. Some time ago a young 

 cuckoo was found in a lark's nest, and placed in a 

 rabbit hutch. It was carefully fed by hand until a 

 little wren was seen to pay periodical visits to the 

 place, and feed the big cuckoo through the wire. 

 The tiny bird still nourishes its big adopted child, and 

 a more comical sight it would be hard to imagine 

 than the large cuckoo flapping its wings with joy and 

 opening its extensive beak to receive the food its 

 ' little mother ' drops into it." 



Really, were it not for their great names, such rea- 

 soning as that of Mr. Darwin and Mr. Romanes on 

 this matter — such ignorance, or ignoring of patent 

 facts, and the going on, going on with fine words, as 

 Mr. Romanes does above, in favour of a mere theory. 



