82 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



The Cuckoo. — In a paper, by Mr E. Blylh, on the species of Birds obperved 

 near Tooting, Surrey, published in the IVIagazine of Natural History for December 

 1836, the following interesting particulars relative to the Cuckoo are given. It 

 often arrives in the country several weeks before its well known cry is heard. Both 

 its notes are common to the two sexes. The egg is found in a great variety of nests, 

 both of granivorous and insectivorous birds ; but, in the inclosed districts, it is most 

 frequent in that of the hedge dunnock, and not rare in the field lark's ; whilst, on the 

 open commons, the meadow pipits' and wagtails' nests most usually receive it, and not 

 unfrequently that of the whinchat. Having spared no pains to investigate the economy 

 of this interesting bird, I am now enabled to speak with confidence on most points 

 on which I formerly vras doubtful. The species both arrives and departs in flocks, 

 though some of them migrate singly. The adults change the clothing plumage, 

 and also the tail, during their stay with us ; but retain the quills to bear them on 

 their migratory journey, the barred markings on the sides of the neck are exhibited 

 in the new feathers which the adult females put forth .it the close of the summer, or 

 rather a little after midsummer ; and appear, therefore, to be a permanent char- 

 acteristic of the sex; whereas Mr Selby states that " the female differs in no re- 

 spect from the male." The young of the year do not change a feather till after they 

 have left us. Unlike many other species with which 1 am acquainted, the females often 

 continue to lay uhile ia deep moult. They deposit, on the average, five eggs in the 

 course of a season, rarely more ; and these, judging from the result of numerous ex- 

 periments which 1 have instituted, are not unfrequently ejected by the birds to 

 whose fostering care they are entrusted ; hence, I believe, the disproportionate 

 scarcity of their occurrence. A considerable period intervenes between their suc- 

 cessive deposition, during the lapse of which the female Cuckoo instinctively watches 

 the proceedings of birds that are carrying about building materials ; the time her egg 

 requires to be matured for laying, being at least equal to that which the majority of 

 smaller birds consume in the process of nidification. That she cannot, however, 

 much protract the time of disburthening herself, as has been suggested, when the 

 egg has been received into the oviduct, is sufficiently proved by the fact of her some- 

 times laying into an unfinished nest. There is no division of her eggs into separate 

 lots, as in the case of birds which incubate their own ; a fact which might, indeed, 

 have been suspected a priori, seeing that no purpose could be effected by such an 

 arrangement. In point of fact, each separate consecutive egg is analogous to a 

 lot in other species. The remarkable deviation of the Cuckoo from the general 

 habit of the feathered race in confiding its progeny to the care of strangers, is 

 dependent on a peculiarity of the vascular system, and particularly on the 

 minuteness of those blood-vessels which supply the parts concerned in the 

 development of the eggs ; in consequence of which, each successive egg requires 

 so long a time to become fit for deposition, that they could not be incubated 

 simultaneously. Even when developed, they are, from the same cause, remark- 

 ably small for the size of the bu"d ; which, hovcever, adapts them to that of the nests 

 into which they are intruded. I cannot suppose that this peculiar conformation 

 is intended merely for the purp:::sc of retarding the growth of the Qg^i though this 

 effect is unquestionably occasioned by it ; it must rather have reference to some other 

 peculiarity of the bird's habits which we have yet to discover. It is certain that the 

 maternal feelings of the Cuckoo are not quenched, astonishing as this may appear, 

 Mr John E. Gray, of the British Museum, liiforms us that he has himself seen a 

 Cuckoo, day after day, visit the nest where one of its offspring was being reared, and 

 which it finally enticed away from its foster parents ! I had previously heard of ana- 

 logous cases, but was disposed to regard them as fabulous, until corroborated by so 

 paramount an authority. Since Ihave proceeded thus far with the Cuckoo's history, 

 I may add that, although caterpillars form its principal subsistence, it feeds likewise 

 on snails and various fruits, and that it is quite true that both sexes devour birds* 

 eggs, as well as callow broods. Of the numerous cases 1 have now accumulated of 

 the occurrence of the Cuckoo's egg, not one has been met with wherein it could not 

 have been laid into the nest. The es^g of the Cuckoo is most commonly found alone, 

 or together with less than the average number of those of the species to which it is 

 confided. I have one instance in which a young Cuckoo was found, half-fledged, in 

 the same nest with two hedge dunnocks of equal age ; which fact I can only account 

 for by supposing that the interloper was weak and sickly at the time of its exclusion, 

 ■ind remained so till the instinctive propensity to oust its companions had entirely dis- 

 sipated, as we know to be the case. It was, however, apparently quite healthy when 

 discovered. 



On this communication of I\Ir Elyth's we have a few remarks to offer. He al- 

 leges that in the Cuckoo there is no division of the eggs into separate lots, as in 

 the case of birds which incubate their own ; but neither is there such a division in 

 these birds ; and we ai-e disposed to demand the facts on which Mr Blyth's results 

 are founded, before we can give entire credence to the latter. The organs, more- 

 over, are not smaller than in many other birds, nor differently supplied with blood- 

 vessels. One of the most curious circumstances relative to the organization of the 

 Cuckoo is seen in the stomach, of which the inner coat is generally found stuck full 

 of the hairs of caterpillars, disposed in a circular manner, determined by the action 

 ttf the muscular coat. 



Music of Snails. — In the first number of the Naturahst is the following commu- 

 nication on this subject: — '* There is a poetical notion that oysters, amongst other 

 gentle qualities, love minstrelsy; and the fishermen, in some parts, * sing to charm 

 the spirits of the deep,' as they troll their dredging nets ; for 



" The Herring loves the merry moonlight ; 

 The Mackerel loves the wind ; 

 But the Oyster loves the dredging song; — 

 For he comes of gentle kind." 



These lines gave rise to a communication from a young lady, which I will send 

 you. Perhaps some of your readers may confirm the supposition of the Snail's musi- 

 cal capabilities. She says . — " One evening I kneeled upon the window seat, when 

 It was nearly dusk, and heard a soft musical sound ; not a humming or murmuring, 

 but a truly musical lone. I aaw a snail, and, having a desire to annihilate those de- 



stroyers of fruit and flowers, took it from the window. I had silenced the musie ! 

 I recollected what I had heard, and felt a sort of pang." We have heard the same 

 sort of sound emitted under similar circumstances, and believe it to be produced sim- 

 ply by the minute vibrations produced in the glass by the action of the muscular foot 

 of the animal. A similar sound may be produced by bringing the wet finger along 

 a pane. As to Snails, or other molluscous animals, having the faculty of emitting 

 sounds in a manner analogous to that of the higher animals, it is entirely out of the 

 question. 



Lepas Anatifera. — The Rev. "VV, B. Clarke relates, that as one of the Poole 

 pilot-boats was cruising, on the 22d October, in the Channel, the crew picked up, 

 about four leagues from land, a bottle closely corked, on which three congregations 

 of Lepades have rooted themselves. The pedicle or fleshy stalk was fastened to the 

 bottle by a subtance in appearance very like plaster of Paris. He conjectures that 

 it was thrown overboard in the warm latitudes about the Gulf Stream, and that it 

 has been floating across the Atlantic, in the set of the current, towards our shores. 



Fishes caught in a Wheel-Barhow. — The same gentleman relates, that on 

 coming out of Cherbourg, on Wednesday, September 21, when off Fort de Querque- 

 ville, about seven miles from land, he picked up a wheel-barrow, floating in the 

 tideway, which, by the marks upon it, had evidently been washed from the break- 

 water, and had been in the water several days. " It was floating bottom upwards ; 

 and, on turning it to get it on deck, we found three John Dorys caught between the 

 planks. They were, it is true, extremely small ; but their position there showed 

 that small fish are glad to get in (as Paddy said, when he fished under the ditch of 

 Dublin Bridge) ' out of the wet,' and to shelter themselves from the violence of the 

 surface waters." 



Irregular Grow-th of Horns and Claws. — The horns of animals have a de- 

 finite form and direction, according to the different species, and as they increase by 

 the addition of matter to their bases, which is continually secreted, they enlarge inde- 

 finitely during the animal's life ; but, in their regular state, preserve a direction which 

 prevents them from impeding the actions necessary for the well-being of the indivi- 

 dual. Thus, the horn of a ram may attain a very great size, but its curves being 

 regular, it is of no inconvenience to the animal. Should any disturbing cause, how- 

 ever, alter the natural direction of the horn, it assumes an abnormal and frequently 

 fantastic form, and sometimes runs into the face or neck, in which case it requires to 

 be partially cut off. An accidental division of the horn of a young animal will also 

 cause it to grow in a cleft form, which is the case with Sheep that are said to have 

 three or four horns. In these cases there are never, in fact, more than two, but these 

 being split, and running out in a divaricating manner, they seem to be multiplied. 

 The claws of quadrupeds and birds grow in the same manner as horns. Indeed, 

 they are precisely of the same nature. But their growth is checked by pressure and 

 use, the latter of which also tends to wear them down. Thus, although in the na- 

 tural state, the hooflets of a goat, however old it may be, do not acquire an inconve- 

 nient length, because they are constantly worn by being rubbed against the rocks 

 and ground ; yet, when the animal is kept in soft pasture ground, or in a house, 

 where it cannot obtain its natural exercise, they often attain a great length, and 

 curve upwards like a Turkish slipper. The claws of confined eagles, and of all cage 

 birds, manifest the same tendency ; and in birds of prey the point of the upper mandi- 

 ble sometimes elongates and curves so as to prevent the opening of the mouth. Ex- 

 amples of preternatural growth of the nails of the human subject are common in 

 Medical Museums, but in these cases there is always disease of the secreting organs ; 

 yet one may easily imagine lo what length the healthy nail would soon grow, when 

 he may see that in a fortnight its free extremity attains a length of more than two- 

 twelfths of an inch. 



Hybrid Grouse A bird, presenting characters intermediate between those of 



the Blackcock and Red Grouse, was lately obtained by Mr Fenton, Preserver of 

 Animals in Edinburgh, and is now in the possession of BIr W. Smellie Watson, of 

 that city. It was much emaciated, but in perfect plumage. The following descrip- 

 tion was taken from it in its recent state : — In form and proportion it is similar to a 

 female Black Grouse. The bill is of the same form as in that bird. The supra- 

 ocular membrane resembles that of the Red Grouse, having a thin, free, fringed mar- 

 gin, which is not the case with that of the Blackcock. The feathers ai-e generally 

 oblong, broadly rounded, and have a large tufty plumule. The tail is complete, 

 sli"-htly forked, as in the female Black Grouse, but of only sixteen feathers, as in the 

 Red Grouse, The quills are twenty-six. The tarsi are feathered all round, without 

 a bare space behind. The toes are also feathered a third down, as are the interdigital 

 membranes, and the plumage of these parts is as bushy as in the Red Grouse. They 

 are margined with long linear scales, as in the Blaok Grouse. The claws are very 

 long, ai-ched, with thin parallel edges, like those of the Red Grouse and Ptarmigan. 

 The bill is brownish-black ; the supraocular membrane scarlet ; the toes light 

 brown ; the claws brownish-black. The upper part of the head is minutely mottled 

 with brownish- red, brownish-black, and grey; the hind neck with a larger propor- 

 tion of grey. The rest of the neck is black, with a tinge of reddish-purple. On 

 the throat the feathers are margined with white, on the sides of the neck obscurely 

 barred with brownish-red. On the lower parts generally the feathers are black, 

 tipped with white ; those of the sides banded with red, of the lower part of the tail 

 black, with a large terminal space. The lower surface of the wing and the axillar 

 feathers are white. The upper parts generally are very minutely undulated with 

 brownish-black and brownish-red, the feathers having very narrow terminal bands 

 of white. The wing feathers and secondary quill-coverts are similar, as are the se- 

 condary quills, which are tipped with greyish white. The primary quills, their 

 coverts, and alular feathers, greyish-brown ; the outer edges of the primai-ies mottled 

 with white. A white spot appears at the axilla, but there is not a white band on 

 the wing as in the Black Grouse. The tail is black, the two middle feathers very 

 obscurely mottled with reddish ; the eight middle narrowly tipped with white. Tho 

 tarsal feathers are greyish-white, those on the outer side mottled with red. The 

 length 20,^ inches; extent of wings 31. On inspecting the body, the cause of 

 emaciation was obvious. The trachea and bronchi were much inflamed ; the bft 



