Vol. VIII. 



~j Cole, The Finch as Foster-Parent to the Cuckoo. 25 



and by its greater strength smother and crush the hfe out of 

 weak or sickly nestHngs. One can easily prove how readily the 

 young birds in a nest make way by simply placing the finger in 

 the nest and gently working it downwards beneath them, this 

 action at once causing them to make for the uppermost 

 position. The second day from hatching the Cuckoo had got 

 rid of its three nest-companions ; their carcasses I found upon 

 the ground being devoured by scores of small ants. The 

 Cuckoo up till this stage looked both well and strong, but, 

 knowing that warmth was more essential than food up to this 

 period, it was hard to say if the Cuckoo had received any food 

 or not, because the food of insectivorous birds passes into the 

 stomach, and maceration takes place in the oesophagus or 

 gullet before entering the stomach. In granivorous birds the 

 maceration takes place in the crop or dilated gullet above the 

 breast-bone, and then passes into the gizzard, dissection being 

 the only way to prove if the Cuckoo had received any food or 

 not. Knowing that young insectivorous birds require to be fed 

 more often than those of granivorous ones, I wondered if the 

 Finches would exert themselves more on account of the voracious 

 appetite of their foster-chick, which could easily consume more 

 than the three young Finches put together. It was now purely 

 a matter of time, so, visiting the nest occasionally, I found at 

 the end of the third day that the inmate looked " seedy," and 

 upon looking into the nest on the morning of the fourth day I 

 found it dead. Upon dissecting this young Cuckoo I found the 

 organs in a wasted condition and the body devoid of any fatty 

 substance, proving beyond doubt that death was due to starvation. 

 The stomach had very little food in it, this being similar to that 

 described in the beginning of this paper, but not enough to 

 sustain life in so voracious a bird as the Cuckoo, and, besides, 

 not being the class of food necessary to rear a Cuckoo. In 

 concluding, I can only say that it was with delight that I heard 

 Mr. Tregallas state that he had found the dead bodies of young 

 Cuckoos in the nests of the Red-browed Finch, and I await with 

 eagerness the time when some other observer will bring forth a 

 note proving or disproving the ability of the Finch family to act 

 as foster-parents successfully. 



Card. — Mr. George R. Marriner, F.R.M.S., wishes to inform 

 his correspondents that he has resigned the position of Assistant 

 in Biology at Canterbury College, Christchurch, in order to take 

 up the Curatorship of the Public Museum, Wanganui, New 

 Zealand, and will be pleased in future to receive and exchange 

 pamphlets on Natural History at his new address. 



