210 NATURAL HISTORY 



LETTER IV. 



TO THE SAME 



DEAR SIR ; Selborne, Feb. I9, 1770. 



Your observation that " the cuckoo does 

 *' not deposit its egg- indiscriminately in 

 " the nest of the first bird that comes in its 

 " way, but probably looks out a nurse in 

 ** some degree congenerous, with whom to 

 " intrust its young," is perfectly new to 

 me ; and struck me so forcibly, that I na- 

 turally fell into a train of thought that led me 

 to consider whether the fact M^as so, and 

 what reason there was for it. When I came 

 to recollect and inquire, I could not find 

 that any cuckoo had ever been seen in these 

 parts, except in the nest of the wagtail, the 

 hedge-sparrow, the titlark, the white-throat, 

 and the red-breast, all soft-billed insectivo- 

 rous birds. The excellent Mr. Willughhy 

 mentions the nest of the palumbus (ring- 

 dove J, and o( the fringil la f chaffinch J, birds 



