5^6 CLASS AVES. » 



which was nothing but an insect, of greater or less bulk. I 

 availed myself of an occasion so favourable, to observe 

 whether the real parents, after delivering their eggs and 

 offspring to the care of strangers, took no further concern in 

 their welfare. I soon was enabled to learn the real state of 

 the case. I concealed myself under the foliage, so as not 

 to be perceived, and remaining in silence, I saw a cuckow 

 approach, singing and hovering about the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the young bird. The better to attain my object, 

 I took the young cuckow, placed it in a glade at a little dis- 

 tance from the nest, having first excited it to utter some cries, 

 to draw the attention of the parents. This, however, was to 

 no purpose, as they would not approach any more. Still I 

 could observe that the old cuckow redoubled his song in 

 proportion to the cries of the young, and both parents 

 appeared to pay to it the greatest possible attention." 



Of all the birds on which Lothinger makes his experi- 

 ments, the bunting and the yellow wren warbler continued 

 the longest without abandoning their nests. When deprived 

 of their own eggs, they returned to the nest, and covered the 

 strange egg for twenty-four hours. 



From the facts which we have been stating, the following 

 deductions are made by the indefatigable naturalist whom 

 we have thus quoted. 1st. That the vulgar notions concern- 

 ing the cuckow are totally erroneous, and that even to many 

 naturalists its history seems to have been but imperfectly 

 known. 2d. That every bird which has eggs quits its nest 

 if they be taken away and a single one belonging to another 

 species put in their place. 3d. That this abandonment is 

 tolerably prompt, and will take place even when the process 

 of incubation is going on. 4th. That in a most extraor- 

 dinary manner is this law of nature reversed in favour of the 

 cuckow. 5th. That it is a fact, placed beyond all doubt, 

 that the cuckow neither incubates nor builds a nest, but lays 

 in that of some little bird, from which it has previously 



