Notes on the Cuckoo. 355


nth Jul} r . The Capercaillies were shut into the shed.

20th July. The first young bird was seen to be ailing.

2ist July. This chick died, and the others at intervals, as nar-

rated above.


Besides the male Tragopan, the hen that brought up the

Capercaillies has escaped the infection, but I am keeping the

latter isolated, and the shed is to be disinfected, and the enclosure

dressed with quicklime.


The whole thing is very disappointing, for Capercaillies

are difficult to rear, and the greatest care had been taken with

this brood, which was, up to the date of the thunderstorm, in the

best of health.


It will be noticed that the period of incubation of the

enteritis in the case of the first young Capercaillie, was about

nine days, as the bird was exposed to the infection on the nth

July and it began to sicken on the 20th.

Scampston Hall.



NOTES ON THE CUCKOO.


Ctictdus canorus.

By Gordon Dai^guesh.


This paper claims in no way to be altogether original, and

I have drawn largely from the writings of others, and to many

much of the information contained herein will not be new. I

have endeavoured in one paper to collect together a mass of

interesting notes as a foundation to work upon, and to induce

people to study more closely, if possible, this interesting bird

and to fill up many gaps in its life history.


Each year, as the pendulum of Time swings to and fro

and Spring brings to our shores the Cuckoo, fresh perplexing

problems of that " bird of mystery " present themselves to us in

full force. Perhaps there is no bird that has claimed the atten-

tions of naturalists more than the Cuckoo, and yet how very

little we really know about it. Most of our knowledge relating to

its parasitic habits are mere hypothesis based in many cases on

insufficient grounds. The Cuckoo is by no means an easy bird

to study, and to the majority of ordinary people is far better""



