66 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



The nests in which the egg of the cuckoo is most 

 frequently found are those of the meadow-pipit, 

 hedge-sparrow, and the reed-warbler. Now, the 

 eggs of these birds vary in a very considerable degree ; 

 and the question arises, whether the cuckoo has the 

 power of assimilating the colour of its egg to those 

 among which it is to be deposited? Some eminent 

 German ornithologists claim that this is so, but facts 

 observed in England hardly bear out the conclusion. 

 Brown eggs have been found among the blue ones of 

 the hedge-sparrow, redstart, wheat-ear and grass- 

 chat; among the green and grey ones of several 

 other birds ; and among the purely white ones of the 

 wood-pigeon and turtle-dove. The cuckoo's egg 

 is brown, and it must be admitted that the great 

 majority of the nests it patronises contain eggs which 

 more or less nearly resemble its own. There is a 

 general family likeness about the eggs laid by the 

 same bird, not only in the same clutch, but from 

 year to year. We have noticed this particularly 

 in the case of a female sparrow-hawk, which laid 

 remarkably beautiful eggs, and in some other birds. 

 Admitting that the eggs of the cuckoo as a species 

 vary more than those of other birds, yet it is probable 

 that the same female invariably lays eggs of the 

 same colour. This can only be surmised by analogy, 

 though the one fact bearing on the question is where 

 two cuckoo's eggs were found in the same nest, 



