THE CUCKOO. 291 



which were evidently smaller than the rest, probably 

 the youngest. 



Singular as is its cry, so equally singular and equally 

 known to all, is that strange unnatural propensity pecu- 

 liar to this bird, of leaving to others the care of its 

 young. Why does the Cuckoo do this? Is it because 

 it has no knowledge of building a nest for itself? Is it 

 because, alone of all the feathered race, it is without 

 those affections and sympathies which are discoverable 

 and innate in every other species? Is it because it is 

 unfitted, from its structure or mode of life, for those 

 sedentary habits essential to incubation? 



To this, and a thousand other such marvellous in- 

 stincts and habits, we have no answer to give. The why 

 and the wherefore are yet to be learned. But that He 

 who gave the bird such an apparently unnatural habit 

 had his reasons for so doing, there can be no doubt, 

 and it is one of the pleasing occupations and pursuits of 

 a naturalist to use all diligence, diving as far as possible 

 into these mysteries, and finding out, as far as he can, 

 why what is apparently wrong may nevertheless be really 

 right, a working together for a good end, and a fulfil- 

 ment of one great uniform design of Perfection and 

 Wisdom. 



In p. 184, a curious case was mentioned of a Cuckoo 

 having been fed by a Thrush of its own age. The bird 

 was successfully reared, and continued in good health 

 till about the period at which other birds of its kind 

 were in the habit of leaving the country, when it began 

 to mope, particularly during the day; towards night, 

 however, it became more restless and fidgetty, fluttering 

 about and flying up and down the cage. After this, not 

 being able to escape, it recovered its spirits, and was 

 .alive and in good health in October, 1832, when the 

 narrative reached us, though it probably died in the 

 course of the Winter, the usual fate of numbers which 

 have been kept in a state of confinement. We do riot, 

 indeed, recollect a single well-authenticated instance of 



U 2 



