120 ROUND THE YEAR 



Cuckoo in the act of ejecting a nestling Pipit (See 

 Gould's Introduction, or Harting's Summer Migrants}. 

 John Hancock baw a young Cuckoo make repeated 

 and at length successful efforts to throw out the eggs 

 and nestlings of a Hedge Sparrow. (Nat. Hist. Trans. 

 Northumberland and Durham, Vol. VIII. ; reprinted 

 in Zoologist, May, 1886.) The accounts of Montagu, 

 Blackwall, and Mrs. Blackburn are fully related in 

 Harting's Summer Migrants. 



Like some other Birds, the Cuckoo changes his 

 note after the breeding season. The cry becomes 

 hoarser, the first syllable is sometimes doubled, 

 and the musical interval between the two sounds 

 is altered. 



Jenner only slightly refers to one singular feature 

 of the Cuckoo, viz., its resemblance to a Sparrow- 

 hawk. Many inexperienced people have been deceived 

 by it. The barred plumage of the chest, belly and 

 legs are the chief means of deception, but there is 

 also a resemblance of attitude. The small Birds 

 seem to be imposed upon, for they show terror at the 

 sight of a Cuckoo, desert their nests and build new 

 ones when intruded upon by her, or at other times 

 collect and chase her as they would chase a Sparrow- 

 hawk. It is common to see a Cuckoo followed like a 

 Hawk by a small bird, and late in summer a young 

 Cuckoo is not unfrequently mistaken for a Hawk by 

 some manor boy, and shot. It seems likely that the 

 Hawk-like appearance of the Cuckoo intimidates the 

 sitting Bird, and causes her to offer less resistance to 

 the invasion of her nest. But we have still much to 

 learn about the difficulties and artifices of the Cuckoo. 



