226 ADDITIONAL NOTICES. 



name. Its song is peculiarly soft and pleasing, con- 

 sisting of a few passages repeated from time to time, 

 beginning high in double-slurred notes, and descend- 

 ing plaintively diminuendo. They sing on the wing ; 

 but neither rise so high as the skylark, nor sing with 

 half its power. They differ also from the last in con- 

 tinuing their song sometimes throughout the night, 

 especially if two or more are singing together, as if 

 excited by a kind of rivalry." Ibid. 



THE CUCKOO. 



On the question, whether the peculiar cry of 

 cuckoo is uttered by the male or female bird, Mr. 

 Main makes some ingenious remarks. Alluding to 

 the circumstance that the titlark is so often seen fol- 

 lowing the cuckoo, he observes, " That to watch the 

 motions of the cuckoo, and drive her away from the 

 neighbourhood of the titlark's nest, in which she is 

 especially prone to deposit her eggs, is no doubt the 

 aim of the little bird; for when on the wing, it is 

 often seen to dart on the cuckoo, as the swallow does 

 on the sparrow-hawk." He proceeds to say, " If, as 

 suggested above, the titlark has any instinctive per- 

 ception of the imposition intended by the cuckoo, 

 the object of the small bird's attack must be the fe- 

 male ; and if the female, then I am certain she sings 

 the peculiar note ; because I have seen her repeatedly 

 struck at while singing it." In confirmation of this 

 opinion, we add a notice which has been obligingly 

 communicated to us by T. Bosvile, Esq. of Raven- 

 field Park, Yorkshire. " Often as I hear the note of the 

 cuckoo, I never before recollect having had one in my 



