24 Cole, The Finch as Foster-Parent to the Cuckoo. [isf Til - 



whatever with me, because, as far as my observations go, the 

 Finch cannot act as foster-parent to the Cuckoo. Either the 

 Finches deserted their nests, or the young Cuckoos died of 

 starvation, partly brought about by opposite methods of feeding 

 and food. The Finches being granivorous in their habits, the 

 food which they collect for their young is taken either into the 

 throat or crop, and after being softened, most probably by the 

 salivary glands of the crop, is ejected back into their bills and 

 then into the mouth of their young. On examining this food I 

 find it to be very similar to fine boiled oatmeal, and consisting 

 chiefly of grass and other small seeds that have been shelled, the 

 bill of the Finch being adapted for this purpose. It is a recog- 

 nized fact amongst naturalists that the first food the Finch family 

 feed their young upon is insects. This may be so, but I have 

 proved beyond doubt that insect life is not essential to the 

 rearing of young Finches, having seen Spotted-sided {Stagano- 

 pleura guttata).^ the European Goldfinch, and others reared in 

 captivity upon nothing but plain canary seed. Upon examining 

 young Finches in their early stage I have always found their 

 crops to contain this assimilated food. Amongst native Finches 

 my observations are based chiefly upon the Red-browed and 

 Spotted-sided, whose nests were to be found in scores in the 

 citrus trees growing in an orchard in the Ovens Valley (Victoria), 

 and with the acclimatized European Goldfinch at Upper Haw- 

 thorn, Melbourne. Having upon several occasions found the 

 egg of the Pallid Cuckoo {Ctiailus pallidiis) deposited in that of 

 the Goldfinch, I never had the opportunity of proving my theory, 

 on account of the Goldfinch always deserting her nest upon 

 finding the strange q^^ placed therein, until last November 

 twelvemonths, when I found a Finch's nest situated low down 

 in a pear-tree in the orchard, and containing three Finch's eggs 

 and a Pallid Cuckoo's. On examining them I came to the con- 

 clusion that they would soon be hatched. This surmise proved 

 to be correct. On the fourth day from finding the nest, at 

 noon, all four young birds had hatched. I knew that the 

 Cuckoo would eventually get rid of his nest-companions, either 

 by ejecting them — the commoner method in vogue amongst 

 these strange birds — or else by trampling them to death. This 

 trampling to death business, as far as my observations go, is that 

 the Cuckoo finds it easier work to get rid of the stronger than the 

 weaker nestlings, my reasons being these : — Young birds in the 

 nest always strive for the top position, which naturally falls to 

 the stronger. With the young Cuckoos it is the reverse ; they 

 work to get beneath, and as a rule there is no trouble, the other 

 young birds readily making way, thus playing into the hands of 

 their murderous nest-mate, who, getting them into the hollow 

 between its shoulders, easily casts them out to destruction. I 

 have on rare occasions found the Cuckoo to quickly sit upon 



