The Zoologist— Apeil, 1873. 3477 



which probably adopt these means to force their mates to a pro- 

 longation of the pairing-tirae. (Zur Verlangen.ng der Paarunes- 

 zeit). ^ 



id.) After hatching, the female cuckoo turns the young of her 

 nurse out of the nest, in order to secure a more certain existence 

 for her own offspring." 



• Dr. Dybowsld concludes his paper by declaring that each one of 

 the views he has put forward requires further confirmation, and 

 entreats that careful observations may be made on each of these 

 points. With these remarks of the worthy doctor I most cordially 

 agree ; for though I have my own opinions on the subject, I am by 

 no means bigoted in their favour, and I cannot consider that we 

 have as yet by any means arrived at any positive knowledge of all 

 the strange circumstances which attend the breeding of that very 

 peculiar bird, the cuckoo : and it is with the view of bringing 

 forward any well-authenticated facts I can glean, and inviting "dis^ 

 cussion upon them, as well as hoping to elicit the publication of 

 other observers' experiences on the same subject, that I so often 

 harp (not however, I trust, to the weariness of the readers of the 

 'Zoologist') on this cuckoo note, 



I had hoped to have concluded these remarks on the cuckoo, 

 with an account of the well-being of a bird of this species which 

 had passed most successfully through the greater part of its second 

 winter in captivity in this neighbourhood, but which unfortunately 

 died last month. It was taken from the nest at Potterne, near 

 Devizes, in the summer of 1871, and was reared in the bakehouse 

 of the chief confectioner in that town. Though it never attained 

 to other than ragged plumage, the bird seemed lively and in good 

 health, and in all probability would hare survived this winter, at all 

 events, if it had not been incautiously exposed to a draught of cold 

 air in the bitter weather of last month, when it seemed chilled to 

 the bone, and very soon drooped and died. This was the more to be 

 deplored, as it had been carefully and constantly sheltered from the 

 severity of winter, and had seemed to thrive in its exceptionally 

 suitable place of abode; and it was only by a most unlucky accident 

 that it was taken from its customary warm quarters, for a few minutes, 

 to be shown to a neighbour, when it caught the chill which proved 

 fatal to its existence. It survived, however, longer than any other 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. VIII. X 



