114 Darwin and Romanes dealt with. 



Mr. Darwin, in the first portion of passage noted, 

 does no more than merely condense the remarks and 

 reasonings of Jenner ; and in a matter so very ex- 

 ceptional and peculiar we really should have expected 

 something very different from him. For it is all too 

 clear that Jenner, having got, as he fancied, on to a 

 " good thing," could not refrain from endeavouring to 

 go one better than the facts, and to explain them con- 

 formably with a foregone theory. Mr. Darwin was 

 cute enough in dealing with that same tendency some- 

 times, and severe enough in condemning it ; so that 

 here indeed we find something to wonder at in his 

 very meek acceptance of all that Jenner said. To 

 gain his end, Jenner, after laying it down that the 

 adult cuckoos — coming about the middle of April — 

 do not lay until about the middle of May, certainly 

 gives full time for accidents ; for, as the bird builds 

 no nest, what has it got to wait a month for before 

 beginning the main business for which it came here ? 

 Mr. and Mrs. Cuckoo are too much "persons of 

 business'' for that! Cuckoos' eggs have in many 

 years been found in nests in the very beginning of 

 May. It is then, indeed, that the hedge-sparrow is 

 most imposed upon ; which may well have led to the 

 idea that it is more often the victim than it really is ; 

 whereas the meadow-pipits, pied fly-catchers, the 

 wagtails, the warblers and wrens are most duped 

 afterwards. Another and very good reason for this 

 is that the hedge-sparrow, (Accentor nodularis) is 

 one of the very earliest builders — its nest being found 

 finished often as early as March. It is laying eggs 

 often in that month, and, therefore, the cuckoo loses 

 the chance of depositing among the first clutch. 



