34 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



replaced in the nest at least twenty times, and then the weather 

 was bright and warm at the time ; and there is every reason to 

 believe that the parents used to feed the young even when it was 

 thrown out. 



June IQth. — Took my wife and a daughter to see the young 

 Cuckoo. The hollow in its back is rapidly disappearing, and 

 when I introduced the Whinchat into the nest I could not coax 

 the Cuckoo to throw it out. Cuckoos to-day are falling off in 

 their song. 



June 18th. — Visited the nest with Mr. Priestley, of Bradford, 

 who wanted a photo of the Cuckoo. This is getting now quite a 

 fine fellow ; his tail and bastard-wing are feathering very nicely, 

 but the back is yet almost as destitute of feathers as when 

 newly hatched. 



My friend had great difficulty in securing a photo on account 

 of the Cuckoo keeping its mouth open, partially opening and 

 closing its lower mandible at the same time. When I touched 

 its body it showed great irritability, and displayed great pug- 

 nacity when my hand was placed near the nest ; it puffed out its 

 neck-feathers, erected feathers on its head, hissed almost like a 

 serpent, raised itself up, and stepped back in the nest — this 

 latter movement in order to increase its momentum in its 

 attack. Any object placed on its back it tried to throw off with 

 violence, and once I heard for the first time its call-note. 



June 19th. — Again visited the nest in the morning and put 

 the young Whinchat in, but the Cuckoo made no attempt what- 

 ever to throw it out. I left home on this date for Grange-over- 

 Sands. 



On writing from Grange to one of my daughters, asking if 

 she would see if the young Cuckoo were still in the nest, she 

 replied that it was, and was more pugnacious than ever ; when 

 she went near the nest it opened its mouth so widely that it 

 reminded her " of the opening of a tin of salmon." 



On June 23rd she informed me the Cuckoo was not in the 

 nest, so probably someone had taken it away. It could not 

 have been fully fledged at this age— about thirteen days. I had 

 met a person with two dogs on June 13th, and one dog was 

 evidently trained for finding birds' nests ; and he asked at the 

 time if I knew of any nest containing an egg or young of the 



