THE CUCKOO AND HIS KINDRED. 119 



perfect the pairing habits of the birds, the colour 

 and size of the eggs, the periods of their production, 

 and the method of insertion in the selected nest, all 

 having been obviously modified to correlate with 

 the parasitic propensity. I shall have occasion to 

 allude to the habit in greater detail later on, when 

 that portion of the economy of the European Cuckoo 

 is being discussed. 



The habits of the Cuckoos are little known, and 

 I may say still less understood. Those of the 

 European species have been most studied, and few 

 birds have been more written about. By far the 

 greater portion of this voluminous Cuckoo literature 

 is the veriest twaddle, and far too much is hypo- 

 thetical if not absolutely imaginative. No other 

 British species is more puzzling in its economy 

 owing to the many difficult and obscure questions 

 which are involved in a study of its life and habits. 

 I offer the following few remarks as a contribution 

 to the history of this exceptionally interesting bird. 



Throughout its wide area of distribution the 

 Cuckoo is a migratory bird. The breeding area of 

 this Cuckoo may be described as the entire Palae- 

 arctic region as far north as the limit of forest 

 growth. The bird breeds throughout continental 

 Europe, including the British Archipelago, and the 



