134 SPRING. 



to that of his vessel, and much in the same manner. 

 We are not denying the common theory of the cuckoo, 

 but we repeat, that in the course of a great deal of 

 observation, we have not met with a single fact which 

 could not be fully and perfectly explained, upon the 

 hypothesis which the anatomy of the cuckoo and the 

 analogy of all the rest of the feathered tribes suggests, 

 namely, that the cuckoo often takes possession of 

 the nests of other birds, either after these had quitted 

 them, or after it had made a meal of the eggs, and 

 then performs all the incubation and nursing itself. 

 In the flockings of the little birds after the cuckoo that 

 we have witnessed, that bird did not seem to offer any 

 annoyance. There is another circumstance which gives 

 at least a colour of probability to the fact, that the 

 cuckoo does not use the nests until they have answered 

 the original purpose of the builders, and that is, that 

 the hatching time of the titling, whether that titling be 

 the common pipit, as is most common in the north and 

 east of the island, or the hedge sparrow (accentor modu- 

 laris), which is said to be the foster bird of the cuckoo 

 in the south of England, is earlier than that of the 

 cuckoo. The hedge sparrow begins its song as early 

 as February, and in warm situations the pipit is not 

 much later ; and where it is later, the cuckoo does not 

 arrive till May. The nest of the hedge sparrow is 

 usually completed in March, and though the interval 

 between the completion of birds' nests, and the depo- 

 siting of the eggs, be not so well ascertained as one 

 could wish, there is no reason to suppose that it is 

 very long. The nests of the small birds that we have 

 mentioned are, in as far as our observation has ex- 



