82 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CUCKOO. 
I then mentioned this extraordinary circumstance (for 
such I thought it) to Mr. and Mrs. Holyoak, of Bid- 
ford Grange, Warwickshire, and to Miss M. Wiles, 
who were on a visit at my house, and who all went 
to see it. Very lately I reminded Mr. Holyoak of it, 
who told me he had a perfect recollection of the 
whole, and that, considering it a curiosity, he walked 
to look at it several times, was perfectly satisfied as 
to its being a Cuckoo, and thought her more attentive 
to her young than any other bird he ever observed, 
having always found her brooding her young. In 
about a week after I first saw the young ones, one of 
them was missing ; and I rather suspected my plough- 
boys having taken it, though it might possibly have 
been taken by a Hawk some time when the old one 
was seeking food. -I never found her off her nest but 
once, and that was the last time I saw the remaining 
young one, when it was almost full-feathered. I then 
went from home for two or three days, and when I 
returned the young one was gone, which, I take for 
granted, had flown. Though during this time I fre- 
quently saw Cuckoos in the thicket I mention, I never 
observed any one that I supposed to be the cock bird 
paired with this hen.”’ 
This case, so circumstantially detailed and attested 
by witnesses of such high respectability, certainly has 
an imposing appearance; but a glance at the parti- 
culars intended to establish its accuracy is sufficient 
to convince every ornithologist who is familiar with 
