138 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



joint, hence its name. The barred markings 

 of its plumage, coupled with the peculiar hiss- 

 ing noise which this bird makes if its nest is 

 approached, have earned for it the sobriquet of 

 ' the snake bird ' in some districts. Unlike the 

 woodpeckers, which are residents, the wryneck* 

 only remains in this country for a few weeks after 

 the adult cuckoos have taken their departure in 

 August, the younger cuckoos remaining with us 

 till October. 



The cuckoo is, perhaps, of all our birds 

 the most interesting and peculiar in its habits. 

 Everyone knows that the cuckoo is in the habit 

 of placing its eggs in the nests of other birds, 

 and that very much to the detriment of the 

 occupants of the nests selected, which sooner or 

 later are discarded by their parents, who bestow 

 all their attention on the usurper. From these 

 facts several theories have arisen, one being that 

 the cuckoo never rears its own young (and 

 certainly in this country there is no record of its 

 having done so), and therefore, so far as our 

 acquaintance with this bird extends, it appears 

 never likely to do so. It was, then, not a little 

 startling to ornithologists to receive the news that 

 in Germany a cuckoo had been known to bring 

 up its young. This incident is referred to by the 

 Rev. Warde Fowler, as having been recorded in 



* Since writing the above, a wryneck has been hanging 

 about my garden for several days, and calling incessantly, an 

 impertinent sedge-warbler frequently imitating it. 



