ORDER 8CANS0RES. 5Q3 



of disgorging their aliment, can feed the young cuckow at 

 all. Montbeillard, however, thinks that the vegetable sub- 

 stances macerated in the crop of these birds, may suit the 

 cuckow very well, at a certain age, until it is itself enabled 

 to find caterpillars, spiders, coleopterous and other insects, 

 of which it is fond, and which usually swarm in the neigh- 

 bourhood of its habitation. 



Although the female deposits her eggs in the nests of these 

 birds, she does not do so without frequently encountering a 

 very obstinate resistance on their parts. She is sometimes 

 indeed forced to relinquish the attempt. The female red- 

 breast has been observed to join with the male in prohibiting 

 the entrance of the cuckow into her nest. While one of the 

 opponents was striking the cuckow with its bill repeatedly 

 in the abdomen, the latter bird exhibited a slight tremor in 

 the wings, and opened the mouth so wide that the other red- 

 breast which was attacking in front, frequently popped its 

 head in and concealed it altogether, but always with perfect 

 impunity. The cuckow soon fell exhausted, staggered, lost 

 its equilibrium, and, turning itself on the branch, remained 

 suspended with its feet upwards. Having continued about 

 two minutes in this attitude, with the bill open and the wings 

 extended, and still pressed by the two red-breasts, it quitted 

 the branch, went to perch at some distance, and did not make 

 its appearance any more. The cuckow has also been known 

 to be repulsed in a similar manner by the bunting. 



The cuckow"'s eggs are never found in the nests of quails or 

 partridges — or, at all events, they do not thrive there. The 

 young of these birds can run and eat alone, almost as soon 

 as they are born. 



What is most surprising in this subject is the forgetfulness 

 of the bird which adopts the young cuckow, of her own eggs 

 and young, and her complete devotion to the stranger. 

 This sacrifice of all natural feeling, and which is made by 



