266 Calls and Young Cuckoo Birds. 



ment and observation. At present we have but case 

 against case, and we can only safely generalise from 

 a larger body of particulars. There seems to be no 

 doubt about Mr. Cochrane's bird, and the case is all 

 the stronger inasmuch as he is so well assured that it 

 could never have heard the note of the free birds of 

 its own kind. We must wait for more light on the 

 subject and meanwhile reserve our opinions. 



These two cases and one other show advance made 

 in treatment and success with confined cuckoos, since 

 Mr. Stevenson tells us, as though it were remarkable, 

 that ^Ir. Dew, a hairdresser in Norwich, kept one in 

 perfect health from June, 1863, till some time in 

 October, 1864 — that is sixteen months — through one 

 winter. 



Mr. W. H. Jack tells of a tame cuckoo which 

 haunted the bushes about his house, clearing them of 

 the larvae of Orgyia ajitiqua, the common vapourer 

 moth. It took up its abode in the front garden, was 

 regularly fed, and grew quite fat. A pole was put up 

 for it, which it took to, and was often seen, when the 

 ground was wet, to dig up worms, like a thrush. 

 ZooL, 1890, p. 457. 



A most important further point with a bearing on 

 this matter is made clear in the following note from 

 Mr. C. A. Witchell, pubhshed in Knowledge, who 

 has made a very close study of the de\elopment of 

 bird-song, and written most effectively on the subject, 

 both in a well known volume and elsewhere. 



" It seems to me that the missel thrushes near 

 Eltham sing longer strains than are heard from those 

 of Gloucestershire, and that the latter birds more 

 frequently utter a few high broken notes after the 



