52 British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 



produces an excess of males in tlie offspring ; that sexual desire in the males is 

 subordinated to greed of food, and consequently they neglect the females, which 

 are obliged to seek out several males before the clutch of eggs can be deposited ; 

 and he instances the American Cow-birds, as stated by American Ornithologists to 

 be similarl}- of insatiable appetite. Consequently it is concluded that the females 

 having to lay their eggs at long intervals are unable to attend to them and hand 

 over the care of them to other birds. Charles Dixon has opposed this view at 

 great length in his "Jottings about Birds," and shows it to be utterly untenable 

 inasmuch as the male Cuckoo has a love-song and is no more voracious than the 

 female ; he also denies the excess of males over females, but here I am inclined 

 to disagree with him, for on several occasions I have seen two and even three 

 males pursuing one female. He suggests that the fact of the young being 

 extremely voracious may have been the original cause, which seems far more 

 probable. With regard to the voracity of Cow-birds, I have kept a pair for about 

 four years, and have been astonished at the very small amount of food which they 

 consume in a week ; indeed it is rare for me to see them feeding ; I should say 

 that all Icterida were small eaters. 



With regard to the Cuckoo in captivity, I would recommend no lover of birds 

 to have anything to do with it. A young bird was given to me two or three 

 years ago, and, so far as feeding went, there was no difficulty ; it would eat any- 

 thing that was offered, but for a considerable time refused to feed itself, merely 

 sitting on its perch or fluttering against the bars of its cage and screaming for 

 food : at length by refusing to feed it, and simply stirring the food in its pan 

 with its feeding-stick, at which it snapped greedily, I taught it to attend to its 

 own wants, and then each day it emptied a large pan holding more than would 

 be enough for an adult Blackbird. It flopped and fluttered about, covering itself 

 with filth and breaking its feathers until it was simply hideous ; nor, even when 

 gorging itself, did it ever cease from its discontented chirp. In an aviary even, 

 the Cuckoo is not interesting, but sits on a perch and calls the other birds to 

 feed it. 



