1 82 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



ago, in company with the late Captain Gary and another 

 friend ; the male bird passed us flying low, and followed 

 at a short distance by the female, whom he seemed 

 to lure onwards by a singularly melodious " cuckoo, 

 cuckoo." 



When this bird appears abroad, he is often mobbed 

 by smaller birds, who seem to hold him in great detesta- 

 tion, perhaps from the idea that he belongs to the hawk 

 tribe ; occasionally, however, he appears to exercise a 

 kind of fascination over them, for at his cry birds will 

 flock from various quarters, and betake themselves to 

 neighbouring trees, as if to listen and admire. As the 

 bird sings " cuckoo," he seems to bend down, lower his 

 wings, and jerk his tail peculiarities which our German 

 friends have endeavoured to reproduce in the Cuckoo to 

 be found in most clockmakers' establishments. 



No certain reason can be assigned for the strange 

 habits of the Cuckoo with regard to its young. The 

 bird does not pair, and male and female are seldom 

 seen together ; but the male is usually attended by a 

 smaller bird, which Mr. Johns believes to be a Meadow 

 Pipit ; this obsequious attendant flies after him, and 

 perches near him when he alights, as if affected by some 

 mesmeric influence. The females are much fewer in 

 number than the males ; they are polyandrous, and 

 visit from time to time the districts which the males 

 have appropriated as their own. 



For a long time it was believed that the female laid 

 but one egg ; but now she is credited with from five 

 to a dozen ; these are variously coloured, and hence 

 it was thought that she possessed the power of assimi- 

 lating the colour to that of the eggs of the bird in whose 



