on the Cuckoo. 357


As before stated the cry of the Cuckoo is easy of imitation ;.

and on the bright sunny days that often occur in February or

March, one's thoughts are apt to wander on to summer, and from

summer to the Cuckoo, and perhaps unconsciously we are apt to

give vent to our feelings, by uttering the cry well known to all :

hence the explanation of " Early Cuckoos." Does the Cuckoo

eat other birds' eggs? This is another point that wants attention.

Many country people declare they do. Most naturalists, how-

ever, are agreed that the egg seen in the Cuckoo's bill was its

own, and until some competent observer actually detects it in the

art of pilfering a bird's nest we must leave this an open question.

Personally I see no reason at all why it should not eat eggs: some

of its foreign relatives do so. I once saw an Indian Cuckoo, the

Koel (Eudnaniys honorata), rob a Dove's nest, and fly off with the

egg in its bill, hotly pursued by the owner. On hearing the

imitated cry of a Cuckoo, a pair of Missel Thrushes I saw, got

very excited, and fumed and fussed about, uttering notes of

defiance. Now the Cuckoo has not been known to deposit its

egg in that of a Missel Thrush's nest, so that the Thrush would

have no cause of fear from that quarter. On the other hand if

the Cuckoo does eat eggs its cry would naturally put the Thrushes

on the qui vive for the safety of theirs.


Perhaps the most extraordinary part of the whole life

history of the Cuckoo is the matching of its eggs with those of

the different birds into whose nests its eggs are deposited. One

theory is that a Cuckoo deposits her eggs in the nest of the species

in which she herself was raised ; and the argument to support this

is that, on the Continent, the eggs of Cuckoos have been found

in the nests of species which do not nest in this country, namely,

the Orphean Warbler, Icterine Warbler and Great Reed Warbler,

matching the eggs with types of Cuckoo's eggs unknown in

Britain. Eggs of Cuckoos have been found in empty nests of

Hedge Sparrow, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Red-backed Shrike,

and twice in Reed Warblers ; in each instance the egg was

designed to match those of the owners (Countryside, Vol. III.,

No. 68.). Mr. Gillett Cory, writing to the same paper, says: —

" I have had the privilege of seeing some sixteen nests, ^each,

containing a Cuckoo's egg of different kinds of birds with their



