I. v. 



CUCULUS CANORUS. (linn ) 

 Cuckoo. 



So much is already known of the singular and apparently 

 unnatural way in which the Cuckoo deserts its egg after lay- 

 ing it in the nest, and leaving it to the care of another bird, 

 that not having myself had an opportunity of making any 

 original observations, I have thought it unnecessary to re- 

 peat what has been already so much better written by others. 

 I should have been exceedingly gratified could I have settled 

 two very interesting points which yet remain undetermined, 

 viz., what number of eggs the Cuckoo lays in one season, 

 and whether or not it ever carries its egg (after having laid 

 it) to the nest of anotlicr bird. Mr. Williamson, of Scarbo- 

 rough, informs me that he has found its egg in the nest of a 

 Rock Lark, close luider the j)ro)ecting shelf of a rock, and in 

 a situation where he considers it impossible for the Cuckoo 

 to have deposited it in any other way. Though not myself in- 

 clined in favour of this suj)position, yet there is something 

 that renders it highly probable. Unless the Cuckoo is thus 

 able to transport its eggs after having laid them, numbers 

 must be dropped to no purpose, when at the point of laying 

 them it is unable to find the nest of another bird in which to 

 leave them. Le \ aillant, in his account of his travels in 

 Africa, mentions having, in many instances, shot a species 

 of Cuckoo in the act of thus transporting its own egg in its 

 mouth. The eggs of the Cuckoo are found in the nests of 

 several species of small birds. It, however, seems instinctively 

 to prefer those, the eggs of which most nearly resemble its 

 own. Amongst these are the several species of Lark. tli(> 

 IMcd ^V"agtail, and the (iiasshoppcr Warbler ; it most fre- 

 quently, however, makes choice of that of the Titlark, which 



