124 A HISTORY OF 



The cuckoo, that was silent some time after ts appearance, begins 

 at first feebly, and at very distant intervals, to 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 fixed a more ludicrous association to this 

 note, which, however, we that are bachelors need be in no pain about. 

 This reproach seems to arise from this bird's making use of the bed 

 or nest of another to deposit its own brood in. 



However this may be, nothing is more certain than that the female 

 makes no nest of her own. She repairs for that purpose to the nest 

 of some other bird, generally the water- wagtail, or the 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 assi- 

 duity, and when excluded, finds no difference in the great ill-looking 

 changeling from her own. To supply this voracious creature, the 

 credulous nurse toils with unusual labour, no way sensible that she is 

 feeding up an enemy to her race, and one of the most destructive rob- 

 bers 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 and corn, bui ilesh and insects were their 

 favourite nourishment. He found it a very difficult task to teach them 

 to peck, for he was obliged to feed them for 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 con- 

 straint, as it was always put into their mouths ; but meal-worm in- 

 sects 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 membranous, partly muscular, 

 and of a prodigious capacity ; yet still they are not to be supposed as 

 birds of prey, for they have neither the 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 increasing, 

 as it finds no great chance for a supply in imitating its little conduc- 

 tor, it parts good friends, the step-child seldom offering any violence 

 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 fliep, 

 and oblige it to take shelter in the thickest branches of some neigh- 

 bouring tree. All the smaller birds form the train of its pursuers ; 

 bat the wry-neck in particular is found the most active in the chace ; 

 Und from thence it has been called by many the cuckoo's attendant 



