

226 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



bird, is a singular circumstance, and seems to 

 favour this mysterious instinct. 



It does not appear that any one has actually 

 seen the cuckoo deposit an egg ; so that we have 

 had only conjectures as to the way in which it is 

 done. It was supposed, from analogy, probably, 

 that she carried it in her bill, and dropped it into 

 the nest ; and this idea seeems confirmed by an 

 instance mentioned in "The Zoologist, for 1851." 

 A person shooting on the banks of the Norwich 

 river, on the 14th of April, in that year, saw a 

 flying cuckoo, which was carrying something 

 in its bill. He followed the bird in a boat, and 

 saw it alight on a meadow. Approaching it within 

 twenty yards, he perceived it crawling like a parrot, 

 along the side of a drain, still carrying something 

 in its beak. After a time, the bird stopped short, 

 when he fired and killed it. On examination, 

 it proved to be an egg, which the cuckoo was 

 carrying ; and it seems highly probable that she 

 was in the act of searching for a nest in which 

 to deposit it. 



There is another strange fact connected with 

 this mysterious business. Not only is the little 

 hedge-sparrow induced to regard an enormous, 

 ravenous cuckoo, as her own dear little one, but 

 the young cuckoo seems to have a strange power 

 over the affections of other birds, whose assistance 



