the Economy of the Cuckoo. 185 



7. " The same hen-bird deposits eggs of a Uke colour (as a 

 rule) in nests of the same species/^ — Not always the ease. 



8 " The exceptions to the last four conclusions are propor- 

 tionately rare." 



9. " Most of the Warblers desert their nests readily, and in 

 consequence of very slight disturbance." — True. 



10. "They pursue and drive away the Cuckoo when it comes 

 near them," — This leads to a contest, in which the eggs 

 are sometimes broken. 



11. ^'The Cuckoo avails herself of the absence of the old 

 birds when depositing her egg in the nest." — Certainly. 



12. " She lays her egg on the ground and conveys it with 

 her beak into such nests as are otherwise inaccessible ; but, 

 when opportunity affords, she lays it in those that are easily 

 accessible." — This I believe, but I myself have no actual 

 experience of the matter. 



13. " In consequence of this, she lays aside her usual shyness 

 of buildings." — This I can confirm ; I know of a young 

 Cuckoo hatched in a cart-shed some years ago 



14. "Two Cuckoo's eggs of different colours occur in the 

 same nest. Whence we infer : — 



" (1.) Nature must have an especial purpose in so many har- 

 monious and peculiar contingences. 



" (3.) This purpose is very easy to understand : under the 

 arrangements originally hit upon, nature would make surer and 

 easier the existence of the otherwise endangered species. 



" (3.) Nature attains her purpose by very simple means. She 

 has granted to each hen-Cuckoo the faculty of laying eggs, in colour 

 similar to those of the birds whose nests she has, according to 

 the locality, been accustomed to use ; or, in other words, each 

 hen-Cuckoo lays eggs of a certain colouring only, which corre- 

 sponds with that of the eggs of some one species of Warbler, in 

 the nests of which she deposits them, and she only puts them 

 into the nests of other species when, at the time she is ready to 

 lay, a nest of her (so to speak) typical species is not at hand." 



To the inferences, from this fourteenth and last conclusion, I 

 do not, of course, assent, except as to the fact of two eggs of 

 different colourings being found in the same nest. 



I would add, from my own experience, the following results : — 



o2 



