THE CUCKOO. 199 



they were covered commonly by the sea-waters, but revived in 

 his warm hand and by the fire." It is a great pity that thesa 

 " ancient fishermen " and other fortunate individuals of the sort 

 never come in the way of anybody competent to pronounce on 

 the value of their wonderful discoveries. 



It is not improbable that these stories of hybernating Swallows 

 may have originated in the occasional discovery of individuals 

 which, having been left behind when the autumnal migration has 

 taken place, have retired at the approach of winter to some se- 

 cluded retreat, and there perished with the cold. But there is no 

 reliable evidence that in any single instance have Swallows been 

 discovered in such circumstances alive. 



The Swallows and their nocturnal ally, the Goat-sucker, or 

 Nightjar (Caprimulgus Europceus), form the lowest section of the 

 great order of Perching Birds, which includes by far the largest 

 proportion of our more familiar feathered friends, some of which 

 Shakspeare, anticipating of course our modern classification, 

 has thus lightly strung together : 



" The ousel-cock, so black of hue, 



With orange-tawny bill ; 

 The throstle with his note so true, 



The wren with little quill ; 

 The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, 

 The plain-song cuckoo gray." 



The extraordinary habit of the Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) in 

 depositing its eggs in the nests of other birds, and leaving to 

 them the entire care of its offspring, has naturally excited great 

 attention ; and though it would be too much to say that the 

 reason of this strange procedure has been satisfactorily ascertained, 

 yet the examination of the structure of the bird to which it has 

 led, has certainly thrown a good deal of light upon the subject. 



It appears that owing to the peculiar conformation of the 

 Cuckoo, its eggs are not only small for a bird of its size, but that 

 they are developed singly, and at intervals of six or eight days 

 each ; so that if the bird were itself to hatch the eggs it lays, it 

 would be involved in the predicament, supposing such a thing 

 possible, of having the threefold business of oviposition, incuba- 

 tion, and feeding one or more already hatched young, all on its 

 hands at once. The situation of a poor bird so circumstanced 

 would certainly not be an agreeable one, and that no such 



