CONCERNING THE CUCKOO 107 



on the subject, both of which are steadfastly held 

 to by their advocates. 



According to the first view, the cuckoo, having 

 chosen the nest of a bird in which she is about to 

 lay, has the extraordinary power of being able to 

 control at will the appearance of her egg. She is 

 supposed to be influenced in some unknown way by 

 the surroundings or the appearance of the eggs 

 already in the nest, and so proceeds to produce an 

 egg resembling those of the foster-parent. The other 

 theory credits the bird with scarcely less originality, 

 though with more shrewdness. According to the 

 second view, having laid an egg on the ground, she 

 takes a kind of mental inventory of its appearance, 

 and then proceeds to deposit it in the nest of the 

 bird whose egg it resembles. 



Without staying at this point to discuss these 

 and other theories which have been put forward 

 to account for the curious fact that there is usually 

 a general resemblance between the cuckoo's egg and 

 those of the widely different species of birds with 

 which it is found, it may be mentioned that it is 

 likely that the cuckoo often lays on the ground 

 without the intention of placing the egg in any 

 nest, and even possibly occasionally settles all 

 question of its destination by quietly making a meal 

 of it. The bird seems in some manner to have 

 obtained the reputation of an egg-sucker, but 

 whether on the strength of reliable evidence or not 

 it seems hard to say. I recently caught a cuckoo 

 in the act of laying on the ground in somewhat 

 peculiar circumstances which have some bearing 

 on this point. Returning across Wimbledon Com- 

 mon about dusk, on passing a thicket in one of the 



