THE SEARCHERS. I07 



This Cuckoo frequents almost every part of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and breeds in all northern 

 portions of the Eastern Hemisphere ; it only visits India, China, Java, the Sundainu Islands, and 

 South-western Africa in the course of its migrations. In England it usually appears about the middle 



of April. 



The Common Cuckoo may be regarded as the most flighty, restless, and lively member of this 

 sprightly family ; from morning till night he is constantly on the move, and is as hungry as he is active 

 and clamorous. His flight is light, elegant, somewhat resembling that of a Falcon ; but no sooner 

 has his journey come to an end, than he alights on a thick branch of the nearest tree, and at once 

 begins to look about him in search of food. Should an attractive morsel be in sight, he swoops upon 

 it in an instant, and having caught and devoured it, by a stroke or two of his powerful wings he 

 again returns to the branch he has just quitted, or else flies off to a neighbouring tree, immediately to 

 repeat the same performance. It is, however, only in his powers of flight that the Cuckoo is 

 eminently gifted ; he walks upon the ground with difficulty, and is quite unable to climb. In spring- 

 time he is indefatigable in making heard his well-known notes, " Cuckoo, cuckoo," which occasionally 

 he will change to a softly-uttered " Quawawa," or " Haghaghaghag," while the voice of the female 

 somewhat resembles a peculiar laugh or gentle twitter, but poorly represented by the syllables 

 " Kwikwikwik." It was well-known, even to ancient writers, that the female Cuckoo, instead of 

 building a nest for the reception of her progeny, lays her eggs in the nests of other birds, to whom 

 she altogether entrusts the rearing of her young ones. 



" The Cuckoo," says Aristotle, " deputes the incubation of her eggs and the nurture of the 

 young ones to which they give birth to the bird in whose nest the eggs happen to be laid. The 

 foster-father, as we are told, throws his own offspring out of their nest and leaves them to die of 

 hunger, while he devotes himself entirely to providing for the young Cuckoo. Others say that he 

 kills his own nestlings to feed the young intruder with their bodies, the young Cuckoo being so 

 beautiful that even Ihe mother who owns the nest despises and sacrifices her own brood on his 

 behalf Narrators, however, are not quite agreed as to who is the real destroyer of the young birds ; 

 some say that it is the old Cuckoo who comes back again to eat the little family of the too 

 hospitable pair, while others assert that it is the young Cuckoo who casts out of the nest all his 

 foster brothers and sisters, leaving them to die of starvation, while others again declare that the young 

 Cuckoo, being the strongest, kills and devours all the rest." 



" In thus providing for his children," continues Aristotle, " the Cuckoo does quite right, for he 

 knows what a coward he is, and that he would never be able to defend them ; indeed, so cowardly 

 is he that all the little birds amuse themselves by pinching and pecking at him." 



It will be at once evident that in the above account of the habits of the Cuckoo there is a great 

 deal of truth, although much that is surmised is devoid of foundation. The main facts that have 

 been established by trustworthy observation relative to the breeding of the Cuckoo are in themselves 

 suflnciently curious, and have no need of fictitious circumstances to make them interesting. They 

 may be briefly stated as follows : — The female Cuckoo undoubtedly deposits her eggs in the nest of 

 some other bird, not of any particular species, but of several ; indeed, upwards of fiftj' ha\'e been 

 enumerated as entitled to the honour of rearing the young Cuckoos. Secondly, it has been observed 

 that the eggs of the Cuckoo differ remarkably from each other ; indeed, more so than is the case in 

 any other known species ; and, moreover, that a Cuckoo's egg taken from the nest in which it has 

 been placed is found strikingly to resemble the eggs laid by the owner of the nest. Thirdly, the 

 Cuckoo only lays a single egg in the selected spot, and this is invariably deposited in a nest already 

 containing eggs belonging to its proper owner. 



The behaviour of the females while thus employed in laying their eggs is peculiar. No sooner 



