212 CUCULIDJJ. 



" A nest, which was placed near the centre of a tree of 

 moderate size, was reached by a son of the gentleman on 

 whose ground we were. One of the old birds, which was 

 sitting upon it, left its situation only when within a few 

 inches of the climber's hand, and silently glided off to 

 another tree close by. Two young Cuckoos, nearly able to 

 fly, scrambled off from their tenement among the branches 

 of the tree, and were caught by us after a while. The 

 nest was taken, and carefully handed to me. It still con- 

 tained three young Cuckoos, all of different sizes, the 

 smallest apparently just hatched, the next in size probably 

 several days old, while the largest, covered with pen- 

 feathers, would have been able to leave the nest in about a 

 week. There were also in the nest two eggs, one contain- 

 ing a chick, the other fresh or lately laid. The two young 

 birds which escaped from the nest, clung so firmly to the 

 branches by their feet, that our attempts to dislodge them 

 were of no avail, and we were obliged to reach them with 

 the hand. On now looking at all these young birds, our 

 surprise was indeed great, as no two of them were of the 

 same size, which clearly showed that they had been hatched 

 at different periods, and I should suppose the largest to 

 have been fully three weeks older than any of the rest. 

 Mr. Rhett assured us that he had observed the same in 

 another nest placed in a tree within a few paces of his 

 house, and which he also showed to us. He stated that 

 eleven young Cuckoos had been successively hatched and 

 reared in it, by the same pair of old birds, in one season, 

 and that young birds and eggs were to be seen in it at the 

 same time for many weeks in succession. 



" On thinking since of this strange fact, I have felt most 

 anxious to discover how many eggs the Cuckoo of Europe 

 drops in one season. If it, as I suspect, produces, as our 

 bird does, not less than eight or ten, or what may be called 



