248 AEISTOTLE S ENAIMA, 



interest. He argues strongly against the opinion, which, he 

 says, was held by some, that this bird was a kind of hawk.* 

 The cuckoo (KokJcyx), he says, does not make a nest, but 

 lays one or sometimes two eggs in the nest of some other 

 bird, which hatches out and brings up its foster young, t 

 He mentions the following foster-parents : Hypolais (the 

 hedge-sparrow, apparently), Korydos (the skylark), Clitoris 

 (the greenfinch, probably), and Pliaps, which seems to be 

 some kind of pigeon. 



The hedge-sparrow is commonly and the skylark occasi 

 onally a foster-parent to the young of the cuckoo. Records 

 of cuckoo s eggs being deposited in the nests of the green 

 finch and the wood pigeon have also been made, according 

 to Sharpe and Dresser. I 



Aristotle says that the cuckoo, when depositing its egg, 

 devours the eggs of the foster-mother. This seems to be 

 the only passage in which he expresses his own opinion on 

 the fate of the eggs or young of the foster-mother. He also 

 records the opinions of others on this subject. These opinions 

 were : (1) that the young cuckoo ejects the young of the 

 foster-parents; (2) that the foster-mother kills its own young; 

 (3) that the old cuckoo re-visits the nest and kills the young 

 of the foster-parents ; (4) that the young cuckoo causes the 

 death of the other young ones by appropriating all the food, 

 and, (5) that the young cuckoo itself kills the other young 

 ones.|! 



It is clear, from (1) above, that, even as far back as the 

 time of Aristotle, it was believed that the young cuckoo 

 ejected the young of the foster-parents. Aristotle s own 

 opinion is not altogether incorrect, for, according to Sharpe 

 and Dresser, H the old cuckoo has been said to destroy the 

 eggs of the foster-parents, when depositing its own egg. 

 According to the same authorities, the old cuckoo has been 

 known to revisit the nest and throw out the young of the 

 foster-parents. This agrees with the ancient opinion (3) 

 given above. 



It is generally believed that the habit of cuckoos of en 

 trusting the care of their eggs and young to other birds is 

 largely due to the short period of their stay in the breeding- 

 area not allowing them to hatch out and rear a sufficient 



* JET. A. vi. c. 7. f Ibid. vi. c. 7, ss. 2 and 3, ix. c. 20, s. 1. 



| Birds of Europe, 1871-81, vol. 5. Section on Cuculus canorus. 

 H. A. vi, c. 7, s. 2. || Ibid. ix. c. 20, ss. 1 and 2. 

 IT Op. cit. 



