-^ . When I came to recollect and inquire, I could not 



find that any cuckoo [as a young bird] had ever been 



seen in these parts, except in the nest of the wagtail, 



the hedge-sparrow, the titlark, the whitethroat and the redbreast, 



all soft-billed insectivorous birds. It appears hardly possible that 



a soft-billed bird should subsist [while a nestling] on the same food 



with the hard-billed. 



This proceeding of the cuckoo, of dropping its eggs as it were by 

 chance, is such a monstrous outrage on maternal affection, that had 

 it only been related of a bird in the Brazils or Peru, it would never 

 have merited our belief. But yet, should it farther appear that this 

 simple bird may discern what species are suitable nursing mothers 

 for its disregarded eggs and young, and may deposit them only 

 under their care, this would be adding wonder to wonder. What 

 was said by a very ancient and sublime writer concerning the defect 

 of natural affection in the ostrich, may be well applied to the bird 

 we are talking of: " She is hardened against her young, as though 

 they were not hers." 



A countryman told me he had found a young fern-owl in the nest 

 of a small bird on the ground : and that it was fed by the little bird. 

 I went to see this extraordinary phenomenon, and found that it was 

 a young cuckoo hatched in the nest of a titlark ; it was become 

 vastly too big for its nest, and was very fierce and pugnacious, 

 pursuing my finger, as I teased it, for many feet from the nest, and 

 sparring and buffeting with its wings like a game-cock. The dupe 

 of a dam [or foster-parent] appeared at a distance, hovering about 

 with meat in its mouth, and expressing the greatest solicitude. 



In July, I saw several cuckoos skimming over a large pond ; and 

 found, after some observation, that they were feeding on dragon- 

 flies, some of which they caught as they settled on the weeds, and 

 some as they were on the wing. G. W. 



78 



