CtTCULUS CANORUS. 225 



Wren ; other species given by the same author are the Common Wren, the Hedge-Sparrow, the Pied Wagtail, 

 the Yellow Wagtail, the Marsh-Pipit, the Meadow-Pipit, the Skylark, the Yellow Bunting, the Butcher-bird 

 (Lanius collurio), the Tree-Pipit, the Crested Lark, the Wood-Lark, the Reed-Bunting, the Brambling, the 

 Crossbill, and the Linnet. Mr. Cecil Smith, in his ' Birds of Somersetshire/ mentions also an instance of a 

 Blackbird's nest ; in addition to which I may cite those of the Thrush, Great Tit, Turtle Dove, and Wood- 

 Pigeon. It will be observed that the majority of these birds have much too small nests for the Cuckoo to be 

 able to lay in, and that into some she of course could not enter, which fact alone would prove what used to 

 be doubted by many naturalists, but is now universally accepted by all who have given their attention to the 

 matter, viz. that the Cuckoo deposits her eggs in the nest by carrying them in her bill. Birds of late years 

 have been killed with the eggs in their mouths ; and I myself have seen one shot rising from an Essex meadow 

 with an egg in its bill. 



Females hang about certain localities for days, and having in the mean time discovered a nest which 

 suits them, lay their eggs and, watching the opportunity when the rightful owners are away, convey them 

 to their destination. A struggle not unf requently ensues between the Cuckoo and the foster-parent, evidences 

 of which are seen in broken egg-shells and other signs of a scuffle having taken place. The same bird, it has 

 been ascertained, only deposits a single egg in one nest, and that generally after the rightful owner has begun 

 to lay. Of this even the natives of Central Asia have cognizance ; for Dr. Scully tells us, in his paper in 

 ' Stray Feathers/ that the Yarkandis told him so, giving the nests in which the eggs were deposited as those 

 of the Brown Shrike [Lanius arenarius) , the Red-headed Bunting (Euspiza luteola), and the Indian Blue-throat 

 (Cyanecula suecica) . They say, he remarks, that all Cuckoos are of the female sex, and are not very particular 

 in their choice of husbands, frogs being selected indifferently with birds ! The latter strange idea emanates, 

 no doubt, from the Cuckoo in Yarkand giving, according to Dr. Scully, "a prolonged sort of cry, somewhat 

 resembling that of the toad (Bufo viridis), but somewhat louder." Dr. Baldamus contends that each Cuckoo 

 lays " eggs of a certain colouring only, which corresponds with that of the eggs of some one species of 

 Warbler, in the nest of which she deposits them/' but Mr. G. Dawson Rowley has found that this is not 

 always the case. 



The most remarkable feature, however, in the economy of the Cuckoo has yet to be noticed ; and this 

 is the extraordinary faculty in the young chick which prompts it, when newly born, and before its eyes are 

 open, to eject its foster-brethren from the nest ; and coupled with this is the scarcely less singular devotion 

 evinced by the bereaved foster-parent for the little monster who has thus deprived her of the rearing of the 

 rest of her offspring. With regard to the conduct of the young Cuckoo, it may not be known to all of my 

 readers that a long account of it was published in the last century by Dr. Jenner, who gave the results 

 of his observations in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1788. For a long time the Doctor's account 

 of what he saw did not secure that amount of credence which it should have. The fact seems to have been 

 known to the ancients that the young Cuckoo got rid of its fellow nestlings j but this, according to Pliny, 

 was by the simpler method, perhaps, of devouring them, which somewhat rough treatment was, he con- 

 sidered, rather encouraged than otherwise by the unconscious foster-parent; for, writes he, "she joyeth to 

 see so goodly a bird, and wonders at herself that she hath hatched and reared so trim a chick. The rest, 

 which are her own, indeed, she sets no store by ; yea, and suffereth them to be eaten and devoured of the 

 other, even before her face." 



Of late years the experience of Dr. Jenner has been verified by the observations of a lady in Scotland 

 devoted to the subject of natural history, and who, in a little book on the Pipits, gave a sketch of what she 

 saw. She was afterwards requested to publish an account of the proceeding in detail in ' Nature/ which she 

 did. I quote here in part from Mrs. Hugh Blackburn's story as follows : — " The nest (which we watched last 

 June, after finding the Cuckoo's egg in it) was that of the common Meadow-Pipit, and had two Pipit's eggs, 

 besides that of the Cuclsoo. It was below a heather bush, on the declivity of a low abrupt bank on a Highland 

 hill-side in Moidart. At one visit the Pipits were found to be hatched, but not the Cuckoo. At the next 

 visit which was after an interval of forty-eight hours, we found the young Cuckoo alone in the nest, and both 

 the young Pipits lying down the bank, about ten inches from the margin of the nest, but quite lively after 

 being warmed in the hand. They were replaced in the nest beside of the Cuckoo, which struggled about till 

 it got its back under one of them, when it climbed backwards directly up the open side of the nest, and 



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