on Cuckoos’ Habits in the Breeding Season.



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spring. Again, the bird must deliberately keep an eye on all that

they are doing, for don’t tell me that Cuckoos invariably come across

nests by chance, in which the full complement of eggs is not yet

laid ; and do Cuckoos ever make mistakes, putting an egg in a nest

where the other eggs may be ready to hatch. I don’t think so ?


My pair of Cuckoos arrived together, as far as I could make

out, just as they departed together, and must have known before¬

hand of the Wagtails’ nest, and that the moment had come for the

egg to be deposited. All of which shows as much power of reasoning

along its own particular line, as we ourselves possess in ours ; an

absolute result of forethought; just as those abominable Sparrows

most deliberately watch House Martin’s building their nests, and

rush up with hay and feathers directly the poor Martins have so far

completed the nest as to leave a sufficient space for the Sparrows to

fill it in with their untidy gatherings of material. As far as I can see,

when once the Martins have fully completed the nest, leaving only a

small entrance under the eaves, the Sparrows cannot very easily

enter. I have seen the little brutes sitting on a roof, quite evidently

watching the Martins, and letting them diligently ply backwards and

forwards with mouthfuls of mud, until the nest forms a solid plat¬

form for the Hun birds !


Why ! they just make me mad ! There was such a Martin’s

nest above one of my bedroom windows, which I could easily reach

with a hand, and I daily, indeed twice daily, pulled out the hay and

feathers that the Sparrows put in, yet still they went on, German

Kaiser-like, bombarding other birds houses, when they might be

content with their own.


Perhaps it would be best to let the little horrors build their

nests and then one might seize on the bird and wring her interfering

neck ! Last year three pairs of Martins were building in the court¬

yard, much to our delight, and if three pairs of Sparrows didn’t

deliberately take possession just when the mud foundations were

sufficiently advanced for them to do so : and the merry little Martins

had to begin all over again somewhere else.


If Sparrows acted by so-called instinct, why don’t they build

their own untidy nests as they can do if they choose. Unfortunately

they reason. “ Here you are, a great deal of trouble saved ; let



