3471 The Zoologist — April, 1873. 



bird's propagation ; viz. the means by which its foster-brethren are 

 summarily ejected from the nest wherein the newly-hatched cuckoo 

 appears; a question also much disputed amongst ornithologists, 

 and for which I have valuable testimony from the pages of the, 

 same ' Journal fiir Ornithologie,' from which I quoted last month ; 

 though I would not then confuse the one question before me, by 

 drawing off attention to another point. I return therefore now to 

 the enquiry; and whereas last month I adduced the authority of 

 Dr. Rey, whose investigations were conducted in the heart of Ger- 

 many, I shall now have the pleasure of quoting Dr. Dybowsld, 

 whose observations were made in Eastern Siberia, and whose very 

 interesting communication on the subject I beg to introduce in as 

 literal a translation as I can make. 



Let me first, however, remind my readers that in treating of the 

 life-history of the cuckoo on a previous occasion (Zool. S. S. 

 11 10), I ventured to state that it was not the newly-hatched, but 

 the parent cuckoo, which cast from the nest the unfledged young 

 of the foster-parents ; and I mentioned in support of this view 

 the honoured name of Charles Watcrton, whose opinion was very 

 decided on the point, as he plainly expressed it in his Essays on 

 Natural History,* and as he repeated it to me on more than one 

 occasion ; inasmuch as he declared it to be absolutely impossible 

 for any bird just hatched to exert itself to the degree required, since 

 the ejection of the young birds from any nest would necessarily entail 

 a considerable amount of physical exertion. Perhaps in my admira- 

 tion for the attainments of that eminent ornithologist, I too fondly 

 thought that the authority of Waterton would carry conviction to 

 most minds on a question which required accurate observation and 

 practical knowledge. I was soon however undeceived by Mr. 

 Briggs, who advanced (Zool. S. S. 1208) on the opposite theory 

 not only the name of Dr. Jenner, who originated the story of the 

 precocity of the young cuckoo, but also that of Colonel Montagu, 

 whom I will never mention without the respect which is his due : 

 moreover Mr. Briggs had himself (though I had overlooked the 

 circumstance) seen with his own eyes the attempted expulsion of a 

 young pipit from its nest by an infant cuckoo (Zool. S. S. 914). 

 Of course I am not about to dispute for one moment the testimony 

 of either of these gentlemen, when they record that which they 



* See the one vol. edition, 1871, edited by Norman Moore, pp. 317, 343, 555. 



