108 CUCKOO. 



young Cuckoo, assisted by the old Cuckoo, was witnessed bv 

 a most truthful and worthy ornithologist, a friend of mine, 

 now no more. His animated countenance is even now before 

 me, whilst relating minutely, and with intense interest, the 

 singular and ridiculous disparity observable between the natural 

 and the putative parent.' He adds, 'nor is this by any means 

 a solitary instance of the natural affection of the Cuckoo.' 

 Mr. Blyth, too, says 'it is certain that the maternal feelings 

 of the Cuckoo are not quenched: astonishing as this may 

 appear, Mr. John E. Gray, of the British Museum, informs 

 me that he has himself seen a Cuckoo, day after day, visit 

 the nest where one of its offspring was being reared, and 

 which it finally enticed away from its foster-parents. I had 

 previously heard of analogous cases.' 



Again, in the 'History of the Birds of Melbourne,' in 

 Derbyshire, given by J. J. Briggs, "Esq., in the 'Zoologist,' 

 he writes, 'I believe that, although confiding her young to 

 the care of other birds, the Cuckoo does not entirely forget 

 them. I am strengthened in this opinion by a fact which 

 fell under my notice in June, 1849. As I was walking over 

 a particular part of this parish, with a dog, I was struck 

 with the remarkable actions of a Cuckoo. It came flying 

 about me within a hundred yards, seeming agitated and 

 alarmed, and occasionally struck down at the dog in the same 

 manner as the Lapwing does. It immediately occurred to 

 me that the bird had young near, and that these actions were 

 the result of maternal solicitude. I examined the neighbouring 

 hedge-rows in order to find the nest, but without avail. The 

 next day a neighbouring farmer told me that he had something 

 to shew me, which proved to be a young Cuckoo in the nest 

 of a Hedge-Sparrow, and the place where the nest was situated 

 was but a very short distance from the spot where the old 

 Cuckoo had attracted my attention in the manner described.' 



I must here observe that the statement of Mr. Mc'Intosh 

 is strongly confirmed by the statement of the Kev. Mr. Stafford, 

 communicated by Pennant to the Hon. Daines Barrington, 

 and recorded bv Derham in a manuscript paper on Instinct. 

 Walking in Glossop Dale, in the Peak of Derbyshire, he 

 disturbed a Cuckoo from a nest in which were two young 

 ones, 'and very frequently, for many days, beheld the old 

 Cuckoo feed there her young ones.' Probably only one of 

 them was her own veritable offspring, and it is equally probable 

 that she did not know which was which. Certain it is that 



