254 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



"Jarring" of the common Goat-sucker (Caprimulgus 

 Europazus], of which Gilbert White has given us such 

 an astonishing account, may be heard in all our woods 

 any fine evening in the early part of summer, and its 

 beautiful marbled eggs are frequently found on our 

 downs as well as on West Heath, where they are 

 deposited in a little depression in the turf or the 

 soil without any nest. 



The well-known Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) generally 

 announces its arrival about the middle of April, and 

 in fine warm weather may often be heard " from morn 

 to noon from noon to dewy eve," and far on into the 

 night. No fact in Natural History is better authen- 

 ticated than the singular habit this bird has of neg-. 

 lecting to build a nest of its own, and depositing its 

 egg in that of another species. We have met with its 

 egg in the nests of the Thrush, the Robin, the Hedge 

 Sparrow, the Redstart, the Grasshopper Warbler, the 

 Pied Wagtail, the Sky Lark, the Meadow Pipit, the 

 Tree Pipit, the Yellow Bunting, and the Cirl Bunting ; 

 but it most frequently patronizes the Meadow Pipit 

 and the Pied Wagtail and, as the latter is a familiar 

 bird and frequents shrubberies and gardens, it is no 

 uncommon thing to see a pair of them in the act of 

 feeding the young cuckoo. In a garden in the village, 

 a few years since, a remarkable instance of this came 

 under the notice of a family occupying premises there. 

 A pair of wagtails, having built their nest not far from 

 the house, had successfully carried on the business of 

 incubation, and in due time it became known to all 

 the members of the family that the sole tenant of the 

 nest was a young cuckoo. As they were much pleased 

 with this discovery, they took every precaution to 

 prevent the destruction of the interesting group, and 

 the incredible labour of the wagtails in working out 

 the task that had been imposed on them, astonished 

 the observers not a little. At length the cuckoo left 

 the nest, and an unforeseen difficulty at once presented 



