The Zoologist— May, 1868. 1209 



9th of July last on Crownhill Downs, recorded in last year's 

 'Zoologist' (S. S. 914), makes me assert most positively (hat these 

 ornithologists of the past were correct when they stated that it was 

 the little cuckoo that expelled from the nest the eggs or young of 

 the bird that had hatched it. It is useless for even a Waterton 

 to talk of a thing as impossible when facts show the contrary to be 

 the case. 



The habits of the cuckoo are so remarkable and mysterious that 

 everything that tends to throw light on them seems worthy of record; 

 consequently 1 append to the above remarks some particulars respecting 

 a tame bird of this species that I kept for more than twelve months. 

 It was procured from a labourer at Lipson, near Plymouth, on the 

 26th of June, 1858, and on the same day I undertook the charge of it. 

 Although not sufficiently fledged to be able to fly, it was, even then, 

 fierce and pugnacious. I fed it on meat, both raw and cooked, and 

 on a paste composed of soaked bread and yelk of egg, on which it 

 throve so well as to be able to fly and hop by the end of the first week 

 in July, when it showed impatience at being confined, and a desire to 

 escape from its cage, but no fear of anyone that it was accustomed to. 

 When let out into the room it often endeavoured to get out through 

 the glass of the window, and its restlessness, especially in the evening, 

 was quite tiresome. In one of my note-books, under date August 16th, 

 I find the following entry, " Cuckoo will now peck at a caterpillar." It 

 was extremely fond of the larva of the "buff-tip moth" [Pygara bu- 

 cephela), and when one of these was given it, it would generally pass 

 it through its bill, take it by one of the extremities, violently shake 

 it to empty the stomach of its contents, and then eat the dead 

 insect. 



A part of the time I had the bird it was allowed the range of a 

 lumber-room. Among the records of my pet appears the following 

 particulars : — 



September 21. Cuckoo very restless, sometimes when it is moon- 

 light endeavouring to get out at the window. No doubt the migratory 

 instinct affects it. 



October 22. Still alive and well, has a peculiar way of snapping its 

 bill together, apparently in anger, or as a sort of menace : generally 

 when I give it water reluctant to drink it. 



October 29. Anxious to have its bill clean, frequently wiping it 

 against its perch, or anything that may be near. Still restless at times 

 and fed by hand. 



SECOND SERIES— VOL. III. 2 B 



