524 



A HISTORY OF 



of the air. These feathered guides come to 

 us heaven-taught, and point out the true com- 

 mencement of the season. 



The cuckoo, that was silent some time after 

 its appearance, begins at first feebly, and at 

 very distant intervals, lo give its call, which, 

 as the summer advances, improves both in its 

 frequency and loudness. This is an invitation 

 to courtship, and used only by the male, who 

 sits generally perched upon some dead tree, or 

 bare bough, and repeats his song, which he 

 loses as soon as the genial season is over. 

 His note is pleasant, though uniform ; and, 

 from an association of ideas, seldom occurs to 

 the memory without reminding us of the sweets 

 of summer. Custom too has affixed a more 

 ludicrous association to this note ; which, how- 

 ever, we that are bachelors need be in no puin 

 about. This reproach seems to arise from 

 this bird's making use of the bed or nest of 

 another to deposite its own brood in. 



However this may be, nothing is more cer- 

 tain than that the female makes no n s f her 

 own. She repairs for that purpose to the nest 

 of some other bird, generally the water-wag- 

 tail or hedge-sparrow, and having devoured 

 the eggs of the owner, lays her own in their 

 place. She usually lays but one, which is 

 speckled, and of the size of a blackbird's. 

 This the fond foolish bird hatches with great 

 assiduity, and, when excluded, finds no differ- 

 ence in the great ill-looking changeling from 

 her own. To supply this voracious creature, 

 the ci odulous nurse toils with unusual labour, 

 no way sensible that she is feeding up an ene- 

 my to her race, and one of the most destructive 

 robbers of her future progeny. 



It was once doubted whether these birds 

 were carnivorous ; but Reaumur was at the 

 pains of breeding up several, and found that 

 they would not feed upon bread or orn ; out 

 flesh and insects were their favourif nourish- 

 ment He found it a very difficult task to 

 teach them to peck ; for he was obliged to feed 

 them a full month after they were grown as 

 big as the mother. Insects, however, seemed 

 to be their peculiar food when young; for 

 they devoured flesh by a kind of constraint, as 

 it was always put into their mouths ; but meal- 

 worm insects they flew to, and swallowed of 

 their own accord most greedily Indeed, 

 their gluttony is not to be wondered at, when 

 we consider the capacity of their stomach, 



which is enormous, and reaches from the 

 breast-bone to the vent. It is partly mem- 

 branous, partly muscular, and of a prodigious 

 capacity ; yet still they are not to be supposed 

 as birds of prey, for they have neither die 

 strength nor the courage. On the contrary, 

 they are naturally weak and fearful, as appears 

 by their flying from small birds, which every 

 where pursue them. The young birds are 

 brown, mixed with black ; and in that state they 

 have been described by some authors as old ones. 



The cuckoo, when fledged and fitted for 

 flight, follows its supposed parent but for a 

 little time ; its appetites for insect food increas- 

 ing, as it finds no great chance for a supply 

 in imitating its little instructor, it parts good 

 friends, the step-child seldom offering any vio- 

 'ence to its nurse. Nevertheless, all the little 

 birds of the grove seem to consider the young 

 cuckoo as an enemy, and revenge the cause 

 of their kind by their repeated insults. They 

 pursue it wherever it flies, and oblige it to 

 take shelter in the thickest branches of some 

 neighbouring tree. All the smaller birds form 

 the train of its pursuers ; but the wry-neck, in 

 particular, is found the most active in the 

 chase ; and from thence it has been called by 

 many, the cuckoo's attendant and provider. 

 But it is very far from following with a friend- 

 ly intention ; it only pursues as an insulter, or 

 a spy, to warn all its little companions of the 

 cuckoo's depredations. 



Such are the manners of this bird while it 

 continues to reside, or to be seen amongst us. 

 But early, at the approach of winter, it totally 

 disappears, and its passage can be traced to no 

 other country. Some suppose that it lies hid 

 in hollow trees ; and others that it passes into 

 warmer climates. Which of these opinions is 

 true is very uncertain, as there are no facts 

 related on either side that can be totally relied 

 on. To support the opinion that they remain 

 torpid during the winter, at home, Willoughby 

 introduces the following story, which he de- 

 livers upon the credit of another. " The ser- 

 vants of a gentleman, in the country, having 

 stocked up in one of their meadows some old, 

 dry, rotten willows, thought proper, on a cer- 

 tain occasion, to carry them home. In heat- 

 ing a stove, two logs of this timber were put 

 into the furnace beneath, and fire applied as 

 usual. But soon, to the great surprise of the 

 family, was heard the voice of a cuckoo, sing- 



