122 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



in the past the evidence seems to show. Whether it 

 still continues to increase, and whether we must 

 regard the bird as travelling slowly on the down 

 grade towards extinction, it would be more difficult 

 to say. Some of the facts may appear to point to 

 this conclusion. The wide distribution of the bird, 

 the extraordinary limits which it reaches in its 

 migrations (it extends from South Africa through 

 the tropics, and as far north as the pines go in Europe), 

 the short period over which its visits extend, the 

 nature of its food, and the well-known gluttony and 

 rivalry for the feeding-grounds, are facts which, 

 taken in connection with the parasitic habit, can 

 at all events leave no doubt that the cuckoo of the 

 present day maintains its position amid the com- 

 petition of life only with extreme difficulty. 



