THE CUCKOO. 77 



equally known to all y is that strange unnatural pro- 

 pensity 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 build- 

 ing 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 un- 

 fitted, 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 occu- 

 pations and pursuits of a naturalist, to use all dili- 

 gence, diving as far as possible into these mysteries, 

 and finding out, as far as he can, why what is ap- 

 parently 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 vol. i., p. 207, 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, parti- 

 cularly during the day; towards night, however, it 

 became more restless and fidgetty, fluttering about 

 and flying up and down the cage. After this, not 

 being able to escape, it recovered its spirits, and 



