542 AVES-CUCKOO. 



back, with a considerable depression in the middle ; which shape it loses as 

 soon as it has no longer any use for it. When the hedge-sparrow has set 

 her usual time, and disengaged the young cuckoo and some of her own 

 offspring from the shell, her own young ones, and any of her eggs that re- 

 main unhatched, are turned out of the nest. The young bird generally con- 

 tinues three weeks in the nest before it flies ; and the foster parent-feeds it 

 more than five weeks after this period. 



All the little birds of the grove seem to consider the young cuckoo as an 

 enemy, and revenge the cause of their kind by their repeated insults. They 

 pursue it whenever it flies, and oblige it to take shelter in the thickest branches 

 of some neighboring tree. All the smaller birds form the train of its pur- 

 suers ; but the wryneck, in pai-ticular, is found the most active in the chase; 

 and thence it has been called, by many, the cuckoo's attendant and provider. 

 But it is very far from following with a friendly intention ; it only pursues 

 as an insulter, or a spy, to warn all its little companions of the cuckoo's 

 depredations. 



Such are the manners of this bird while it continues to reside, or to be 

 seen amongst us. But in the first week in July, the old ones quit this coun- 

 try, and the young ones follow in succession ; and as its new abode is not 

 known, there are conflicting opinions on the subject. Some suppose that it 

 lies hid in hollow trees ; and others that it passes into warmer climates. 

 Which of these opinions is true is uncertain, as there are no facts related 

 on either side that can be totally relied on. To support the opinion that 

 they remain torpid during the winter, at home, Willoughby introduces the 

 following story, which he delivers upon the credit of another : — " The ser- 

 vants of a gentleman in the country, having stocked up, in one of their 

 meadows, some old dry rotten wallows, thought proper, on a certain occa- 

 sion, to carry them home. In heating a stove, two logs of this timber were 

 put into the furnace beneath, and fire applied as usual. But soon, to the 

 great surprise of the family, was heard the voice of a cuckoo, singing three 

 times from under the stove. Wondering at so extraordinary a cry in winter 

 time, the servants ran and drew the Avillow logs from the furnace, and in the 

 midst, one of them saw something move ; wherefore, taking an axe, they 

 opened the hole, and thrusting in their hands, first they plucked out nothing 

 but feathers; afterwards they got hold of a living animal; and this was the 

 cuckoo that had waked so very opportunely for its own safety. "It was, 

 indeed," continues our historian, " brisk and lively, but wholly naked and 

 bare of feathers, and without any winter provision in its hole. This cuckoo 

 the boys kept two years afterwards, alive in the stove ; but whether it re- 

 paid them with a second song, the author of the tale has not thought fit to 

 inform us." 



The most probable opinion on this subject is, that as quails and wood- 

 cocks shift their habitation in winter, so also does the cuckoo ; but to what 



