112 SUMMER BIRDS 



volume to describe in detail ; indeed what has been 

 written about it already would fill many volumes, and 

 yet some of the details remain uncertain. It is in 

 truth a chronique scandaleuse — a record of shameless 

 profligacy if judged according to human ethics. Yet 

 are these birds not responsible for conjugal irregularity 

 which is the consequence of circumstances beyond 

 their own control. By a caprice of Nature, five or six 

 male cuckoos are hatched for every female. The 

 reverse is the rule among certain gallinaceous fowls, 

 our own pheasants and black-game, for instance ; the 

 result being polygamy — each cock bird lording it over 

 his own harem, and each hen bird establishing her own 

 little household free from all interference by her lord. 

 But the dilemma of the female cuckoo who should 

 attempt to decide exclusively in favour of one out of 

 half a dozen equally eligible suitors, is one that she has 

 abandoned as impracticable. She has accepted the 

 situation philosophically, followed the line of least 

 resistance, shown equal favour of all, and the result is 

 — polyandry. 



There remains, however, the problem of an establish- 

 ment — a household — a nursery. Any human wife 

 will testify that one husband in a house is handful 

 enough; it is well if, even so, harmony is perennial. 

 But whose is the fancy so nimble as can picture the 

 condition of a household composed of one wife and six 

 husbands? Imagination recoils from the prospect. 

 Wisely has Madame Cuckoo avoided the experiment. 

 Eggs she must lay, and whereas Nature imperatively 

 constrains every living creature to make provision for 



