G02 BIRDS. 



ficed for the accommodation of the cuckoo In such great number 

 as the smaller ones, which are so much more abundant ; for 

 though it would be a vain attempt to calculate the numbers of 

 nestlings destroyed by means of the cuckoo, yet the slightest ob- 

 servation would be sufficient to convince us that they must be very 

 large. Here it may be remarked, that though nature permits the 

 young cuckoo to make this great waste, yet the animals thus des- 

 troyed are not thrown away, or rendered useless. At the season 

 when this happens, great numbers of tender quadrupeds and rep- 

 tiles are seeking provisions ; and if they find the callow nestlings 

 which have fallen victims to the young cuckoo, they are furnished 

 with food well adapted to their peculiar state. 



It appears a little extraordinary, that two cuckoo's eggs should 

 ever be deposited in the same nest, as the young one produced 

 from one of them must inevitably perish ; yet I have known two 

 instances of this kind, one of which I shall relate. June 27, 1787, 

 two cuckoos and a hedge sparrow were hatched in the same nest 

 this morning; one hedge-sparrow's egg remained unhatched. In 

 a few hours after, a contest began between the cuckoos for the 

 possession of the nest, which continued undetermined till the next 

 afternoon ; when one of them, which was somewhat superior in 

 size, turned out the other, together with the hedge-sparrow and 

 the unhatched egg. This contest was very remarkable. The 

 combatants alternately appeared to have the advantage, as each 

 carried the other several times nearly to the top of the nest, and 

 then sunk down again, oppressed by the weight of its burden ; till 

 at length, after various efforts, the strongest prevailed, and was 

 afterwards brought up by the hedge-sparrows. 



I come now, to consider the principal matter that has agitated 

 the mind of the naturalist respecting the cuckoo ; why, like other 

 birds, it should not build a nest, incubate its eggs, and rear its 

 own young ? There is certainly no reason to be assigned, from 

 the conformation of this bird, why, in common with others, it 

 should not perform all these several offices : for it is in every 

 respect perfectly formed for collecting materials and building 

 a nest. Neither its external shape nor internal structure prevent 

 it from incubation ; nor is it by any means incapacitated from 

 bringing food to its young. It would be needless to enumerate the 

 various opinions of authors on this subject, from Aristotle to the 

 present time. Those of the ancient appear to be either visionary. 



