THE CUCKOO. 271 



known to all, is that strange unnatural propensity peculiar 

 to this bird, of leaving to others the care of its young. Why 

 does the Cuckoo do this ? Is it because it has no knowledge 

 of building a nest for itself? Is it because, alone of all the 

 feathered race, it is without those affections and sympathies 

 which are discoverable and innate in every other species ? Is 

 it because it is unfitted, from its structure or mode of life, 

 for those sedentary habits essential to incubation ? 



To this, and a thousand other such marvellous instincts 

 and habits, we have no answer to give. The why and the 

 wherefore are yet to be learned. But that He who gave 

 the bird such an apparently unnatural habit had his reasons 

 for so doing, there can be no doubt, and it is one of the 

 pleasing occupations and pursuits of a naturalist to use all 

 diligence, diving as far as possible into these mysteries, and 

 finding out, as far as he can, why what is apparently wrong 

 may nevertheless be really right, a working together for a 

 good end, and a fulfilment of one great uniform design of 

 Perfection and Wisdom. 



In p. 170, a curious case was mentioned of a Cuckoo 

 having been fed by a Thrush of its own age. The bird was 

 successfully reared, and continued in good health till about 

 the period at which other birds of its kind were in the habit 

 of leaving the country, when it began to mope, particularly 

 during the day ; towards night, however, it became more 

 restless and fidgety, fluttering about and flying up and down 

 the cage. After this, not being able to escape, it recovered 

 its spirits, and was alive and in good health in October, 1832, 

 when the narrative reached us, though it probably died in the 

 course of the Winter, the usual fate of numbers which have 

 been kept in a state of confinement. We do not, indeed, 

 recollect a single well- authenticated instance of one of these 

 birds living for a year, when kept in confinement, which is 

 the more surprising, as their usual insect food might be 

 generally procured. 



To naturalists various other peculiarities in the Cuckoo 

 are well known, but in closing our account, we would refer 

 to two more particularly worthy of notice, as instances of 



