127 



ROMANCE OF THE CUCKOO 



E. P. BUTTERKIELD. 



(Continued from page g6). 



Macgillivray, in examining a female Cuckoo, found no 

 fewer than twelve eggs in progress of development, and these 

 were disposed in separate clusters, one of which contained 

 three, another six, and the third three. As to the interval 

 between the laying of each egg, which may be variable, there 

 is some doubt, but some individuals have been thought to lay 

 about every third day. Most of the Cuckoo eggs are laid 

 here between the middle of May and middle of June. 



In other parts of Britain, eggs of the Cuckoo have been 

 found from early April to, I believe, as late as August — but 

 these are rare instances. 



The incubation of the egg of Cuckoo lasts twelve or thirteen 

 days. The young, when newly hatched, differ little from young 

 Pipits, except in point of size, but soon their skin begins to 

 darken, and before they are many days old they are repulsive 

 looking creatures, and grow enormously during the first three 

 days. Before they are two days old, they usually begin to 

 hoist out of nest any young or any unhatched eggs belonging 

 to the rightful owner, and this they do by a method which, 

 unless one has first witnessed it, would be considered incredible. 

 The young Cuckoo, which at this age is very restless, and is 

 constantly trying to insinuate itself beneath the bodies of its 

 foster brothers until it gets one into a favourable position, that 

 is, in the hollow of the back, when it begins to clamber back- 

 ward-way up the side of the nest, balancing the young bird on 

 its back by elevating its elbows, till it reaches the top, when it 

 throws off its burden. As if to make assurance doubly sure, 

 that its work has been successful, it remains for some little time 

 in this position, the extremities of its wings being kept in motion, 

 and then falls forward into the nest. I confess, when I first saw 

 this feat accomplished, my language was more expressive than 

 prudent, and I had a strong desire to pitch the young Cuckoo 

 out of the nest ; nevertheless, the sight is one of the most 

 marvellous phenomena connected with bird-life. This intense 

 desire to throw the rightful occupants out of the nest begins 

 to diminish when a few days old, and it remains blind for about 

 a week, at which age it has more the appearance of a miniature 

 hedgehog than a bird, but at the end of the second week he 

 is getting a fine fellow, and when any intruder approaches, 

 he raises himself in the nest, with his feathers about the head 

 all erect, and offers fight by sparring and plunging forward ; 

 and it remains in the nest until it is three weeks old. The 

 call-note of the young Cuckoo which has been reared by a 

 Titlark is an exact reproduction of the call-note of its foster 



1918 April 1. 



