The Zoologist— May, 1 873. 3505 



parents after the young cuckoo has left the uest, and lasts until the 

 bird can feed itself ; very rarely, indeed, is it abandoned by its 

 foster-parents. " In June, 1812," says my father, " a wren's nest 

 was found on the manor of Frohlichen-vviederkunft, which con- 

 tained two young wrens and a cuckoo, — quite an exceptional case ; 

 the dome of the nest had preserved the young wrens from being 

 ejected by the cuckoo. A friend of mine took the cuckoo when it 

 was almost ready to fly, and, as is often done by bird-fanciers, 

 placed it in a cage, intending to bring it to me as soon as it was 

 fledged. The foster-parents in this case, however, abandoned the 

 foundling, and in two days it was found starved to death ; the 

 wrens having taken up their abode elsewhere, with their own 

 nestlings, had not been able to feed both their own young and the 

 cuckoo." Such a case is, however, very unusual indeed. As a 

 rule the young cuckoo is cared for by its foster-parents until able 

 to procure food itself. After this it frequents the neighbourhood 

 of its birth-place until August, when it prepares for its migratory 

 flight. 



Cuckows' Eggs. 



[The following is a verbatim reprint of Professor Newton's article inti- 

 tuled as above : it ajjpeared at p. 74 of the third number of ' Nature ' 

 (dated November 18, 1869) : allusion having been made to it by ]Mr. Smith 

 in the April number of the ' Zoologist ' (SS. 3478) I have thought it best 

 to lay it before my ornithological readers. — Edward Newmam.] 



Scarcely any bird has so much occupied the attention, not 

 merely of naturalists, but of people generally, as the common 

 cuckow of Europe, and (we might almost add, consequently) 

 scarcely any bird has had so many idle tales connected with it. Set- 

 ting aside several of its habits wherein it diff'ers from the common 

 run of birds, its strange, and, according to the experience of most 

 persons, its singular mode of entrusting its offspring to foster- 

 parents, is enough to account for much of the interest which has 

 been so long felt in its history. Within the last twenty years a 

 theory (which is, as I shall presently show, by no means a new 

 one) with respect to an important fact in its economy, has attracted 

 a good deal of attention, first in Germany, and latterly in England; 

 and as this theory seems to be especially open to misconception, 



