174 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Instances of the cuckoos hatching their own eggs. 



stances of the cuckoo's laying its eggs in the 

 nests, and trusting its young to the protection 

 of other birds ; we have also instances, equally 

 well attested, of their hatching and feeding their 

 own nestlings. We are informed by Mr. D. 

 Barrington, that while the Rev. Mr. Stafford was 

 one day walking in Blossopdale, in Derbyshire, 

 he saw a cuckoo rise from its nest ; which was 

 on the stump of a tree that had been some time 

 felled, so as almost to resemble the colour of the 

 bird. In this nest were two young cuckoos; one 

 of which he fastened to the ground by means of 

 a peg and line; and very frequently, for many 

 days, beheld the old cuckoo feed them. The 

 same gentleman was also furnished with two 

 other instances of cuckoos' nests, in which the 

 proper parents fed their young; the one within 

 four miles of London, and the other on the 

 south-west coast of Merionethshire. 



Some imagine that the cuckoo remains in this 

 Country hidden in hollow trees, and in a torpid 

 state, during the winter. In support of this opi- 

 nion, Willoughby, on the credit of another per- 

 son, relates the following story. 



" The servants of a gentleman in the country, 

 having stacked up, in one of the meadows, some 

 old, dry, rotten willows, thought proper, on a 

 certain occasion, to carry them home. In heat- 

 ing a stove, two logs of this timber were put into 

 the lower part, and fire was applied as usual. 

 But soon, to the great surprise of the family, was 



