2IO The World -Evidence. 



" The young cuckoo," he adds, " invariably kills 

 and throws out the rightful nestlings. It is strictly 

 migratory, reaching New Zealand between the yth 

 and 2 1 St of September, and remaining as late as 

 April, abundant time in which to hatch and rear a 

 brood." 



XXX. 



THE EGYPTIAN EVIDENCE. 



We have grounds yet more relative, if such are 

 wanted, in view of our point against Mr. Darwin and 

 Mr. Romanes and their followers. The great spotted 

 cuckoo of Egypt is there resident, and yet it is purely 

 parasitic, laying its eggs in the nest of the hooded 

 crow, which there lays about the same time. Here 

 it is clear, absolutely clear, that pressure due to dates 

 of migration can have no place — can have no bearing 

 as predisposing to the parasitic habit— the cause of 

 which must in this case be sought elsewhere, as we 

 believe it must be in the case of our own canorus. 

 Captain Shelley is our authority, and he thus writes 

 in his Birds of Egypt : 



" The great spotted cuckoos (Coccystes glandarius) 

 are resident in Egypt and Nubia. They are by no 

 means shy, and will often sit motionless on a bough 

 while one walks beneath the tree. In Egypt they 

 breed at the same time as the hooded crow, and in- 

 variably select a nest of that species in which to 

 deposit their eggs."" Von Heuglin {Ornith. N.O. 

 Africa J p. 287) is of opinion that they first lay their 



* pp. 162-3. Edition, 1872. 



