214 NATURAL HISTORY 



then he does not mention them as of his own know- 

 ledge; but says afterwards that he saw himself a wag- 

 tail feeding a cuckoo. It appears hardly possible that 

 a soft-billed bird should subsist on the same food with 

 the hard-billed : for the former have thin membrana- 

 ceous stomachs suited to their soft food ; while the 

 latter, the granivorous tribe, have strong muscular 

 gizzards, which, like mills, grind, by the help of small 

 gravels and pebbles, what is swallowed. This proceed- 

 ing of the cuckoo, of dropping its eggs as it were by 

 chance, is such a monstrous outrage on maternal affec- 

 tion, one of the first great dictates of nature ; and such 

 a violence on instinct ; that, had it only been related of 

 a bird in the Brazils, or Peru, it would never have 

 merited our belief. But yet, should it farther appear 

 that this simple bird, when divested of that natural 

 GTo^yvf that seems to raise the kind in general above 

 themselves, and inspire them with extraordinary degrees 

 of cunning and address, may be still endued with a 

 more enlarged faculty of discerning what species are 

 suitable and congenerous nursing-mothers for its dis- 

 regarded eggs and young, and may deposit them only 

 under their care, this would be adding wonder to won- 

 der, and instancing, in a fresh manner, that the methods 

 of Providence are not subjected to any mode or rule, 

 but astonish us in new lights, and in various and 

 changeable appearances. 



What was said by a very ancient and sublime writer 

 concerning the defect of natural affection in the ostrich, 

 may be well applied to the bird w^e are talking of: 



" She is hardened against her young ones, as though 

 they were not her's: 



" Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither 

 hath he imparted to her understanding 2 ." 



Query. Does each female cuckoo lay but one egg in 

 a season, or does she drop several in different nests 

 according as opportunity offers ? 



I am, &c. 



2 Job, xxxix, 16, 17. 



