THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 27o 



very short time the usurper, closely imprisoned in the nest 

 he has invaded, dies of asphyxia.^ 



But of all these winged spoilers the most cruel is the 

 cuckoo. The mode in which it joroceeds is as follows : — 



This idle and savage inhal)itant of our woods does not 

 care either to build a nest, to hatch its eggs, or to feed its 

 young. By means of trickery it hands over this fatal task 

 to other birds, and it is always upon species of the small- 

 est size that it imposes the charge from which it frees 

 itself 



The most illustrious naturalists, both of antiqiiity and 

 modern times, had already remarked that the cuckoo 

 makes itself master of a strange nest, the legitimate pro- 

 prietors of which are sacrificed for the benefit of the in- 

 vader's progeny. But it is only recently that these odious 

 wiles have been clearly unveiled. 



Nature, niggardly with regard to the cuckoo, has only 

 allotted it two eggs. Here, however, a wise foresight may 

 lie recognized, for in order to rear its tAvo little ones, a good 

 number of othei^s are barbarously sacrificed. 



It is the nest of the golden-crested or common wren 

 that this bird selects for the accomplishment of its designs, 

 and it only deposits one egg in it. 



Here a curious problem presents itself The nests of 

 these charming visitors of our groves are too narrow to ad- 

 mit of a bird so large as the cuckoo either entering one, or 

 resting upon it in order to lay; how then did it manage to 



1 Although this story has been accepted as authentic by Gmelin, the laborious 

 commentator on Linnteus, as well as by several French savants, Spallanzani, in 

 liis Memoires mir les Hirondslles, regard.s it as doubtful. " It is true," lie says, 

 "that sparrows not unfrequently take jjossession of the nests before the arrival 

 of the swallows. But the legitimate masters at once make a stir, going to and 

 fro about the sparrows, picking quarrels with them, and ending \\y making them 

 give up possession." — Spallanzani, Voyages dans les J)eux Sidles. Paris, an 

 viii. t. 6, p. 22. 



