PARASITIC NESTS. 487 



CHAPTER XXV. 



PARASITIC NESTS. 



Various Parasites. — Parasitic Birds. — The Cuckoo and its Kin. — The Cow-bird 

 and its Nest. — Size of its Egg.— Comparison between the Cuckoo and the Ap- 

 t er yx. — The ^Epyornis. — The Blue-faced Honey-eater or Batikin. — Gen- 

 eral Habits of the Bird.— Singular Mode of Nesting.— The Sparrow-hawk and 

 its parasitic Habits. — The Kestrel, its Quarrel with a Magpie. — The Purple 

 Grakle or Crow Blackbird. — Its curious Alliance with the Osprey. — Wilson's 

 Account of the two Birds. — The Sparrow as a Parasite. — Curious "Behavior of 

 the Stork. — Parasitic Insects. — The Ichneumon Flies. — The Parasite of the 

 Cabbage Caterpillar. — Its Numbers and Mode of making its Habitation. — 

 Trap-doors of the Cells. — The Australian Cocoon and its Parasites. — The Oak- 

 egger Moth, its Cocoons and Enemies. — The Puss Moth. — Its remarkable Co- 

 coon. — Powerfuljaws of the Parasite. — Rubt-tailed Flies and their Victims. — 

 Modes of Usurpation. — The Cuckoo Flies or Tachina?. — Parasites within Pupae. 

 — Parasites on Vegetables. — The Gall Flies and their Home. — British Galls, 

 their Shapes, Structures, and Authors. — Foreign Galls, and their Uses. 



"We now pass to another branch of this inexhaustible subject, 

 and come to those creatures that are indebted to other beings for 

 their homes. In some cases the habitation is simply usurped 

 from the rightful proprietors, who are either driven out by main 

 force or are ousted by gradual encroachment. In other cases 

 the deserted tenement of one animal is seized upon by another, 

 which either inhabits it at once, or makes a few alterations, and 

 so converts it to its own purposes. In many instances, however, 

 the habitation of the parasite is found within the animal itself; 

 and in some cases the entire body forms the habitation of the 

 parasite. 



Several examples of the first description of parasites have al- 

 ready been given under other headings ; for instance, where the 

 puffin invades the rabbit-burrows, and drives out the rabbits by 

 dint of courage and a powerful beak ; or where the Coquimbo 

 owl and rattlesnake take possession of the homes which had been 

 excavated by the prairie dog. Examples of the second descrip- 

 tion of parasites have also been given. The kingfisher, for in- 

 stance, usurps the deserted hole of a water-shrew ; and the hum- 

 ble-bee and wasp usually take advantage of the deserted burrow 

 of some rat or mouse. In the account of the sociable weaver 



