192 cucuLiDif:. 



ground we were. One of the old birds, which was sitting 

 upon it, left its situation only when within a few inches of the 

 climber"'s hand, and silently glided off to another tree close 

 by. Two young Cuckoos, nearly able to fly, scrambled off 

 from their tenement among the branches of the tree, and were 

 caught by us after a while. The nest was taken, and care- 

 fully handed to me. It still contained three young Cuckoos, 

 all of different sizes, the smallest apparently just hatched, 

 the next in size probably several days old, while the largest, 

 covered with pen feathers, would have been able to leave the 

 nest in about a week. There were also in the nest two esfffs, 

 one containing a chick, the other fresh or lately laid. The 

 two young birds which escaped from the nest, clung so firmly 

 to the branches by their feet, that our attempts to dislodge 

 them were of no avail, and we were obliged to reach them 

 with the hand. On now looking at all these young birds, 

 our surprise was indeed great, as no two of them were of 

 the same size, which clearly showed that they had been 

 hatched at different periods, and I should suppose the largest 

 to have been fully three weeks older than any of the rest. 

 Mr. Rhett assured us that he had observed the same in 

 another nest placed in a tree within a few paces of his house, 

 and which he also showed to us. He stated that eleven 

 young Cuckoos had been successively hatched and reared in 

 it, by the same pair of old birds, in one season, and that 

 young birds and eggs were to be seen in it at the same time 

 for many weeks in succession. 



" On thinking since of this strange fact, T have felt most 

 anxious to discover how many eggs the Cuckoo of Europe 

 drops in one season. If it, as I suspect, produces, as our 

 bird does, not less than eight or ten, or what may be called 

 the amount of two broods in a season, this circumstance 

 would connect the two species in a still more intimate man- 

 ner than theoretical writers have supposed them to be allied. 



