THE 



NATURAL HISTORY 



OF 



S E L B O R N E. 



LETTER XXX. 



TO THE 



HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON 

 DEAR SIR ; SELBORNE, April 3, 1776. 



MONSIEUR HERISSANT, a French anato- 

 mist, seems persuaded that he has disco- 

 vered the reason why cuckoos do not hatch 

 their own eggs ; the impediment, he sup- 

 poses, arises from the internal structure of 

 their parts, which incapacitates them for 

 incubation. According to this gentleman, 

 the crop, or craw, of a cuckoo does not lie 

 before the sternum at the bottom of the 



VOL. II. B 



