3424 Birds. 



believe he saw it only once. He also on one occasion, when the box 

 was opened, found it lying upon its side, with its legs stretched out. 

 These actions however I have not seen. 



There are many points which require a better description than I 

 have been able to give, and especially the paces, the positions, and the 

 general expression. Some good paintings would be far better than 

 any other means of explanation, and are indeed indispensible accom- 

 paniments of a complete history for the benefit of futurity. One con- 

 siderable addition to our records will be a series of foot-marks, which 

 Mr. Mitchell is, I believe intending to obtain. 



Many more particulars in the habits of the Apteryx, especially of it 

 in a state of nature, remain to be observed ; and indeed something of 

 its nidification is already known in this country : but some of the pe- 

 culiarities which I have endeavoured to describe, are sufficiently re- 

 markable, and their duration amongst the things that are is sufficiently 

 precarious, to engage the services of more capable pens than mine. 



John Wolley. 

 21, Cambridge Terrace, Hyde Park, 

 March, 1852. 



The Cuckoo. — As this bird will make its appearance in April, it is probable that 

 some of your readers may like to have an account of a young one reared in the nest of 

 a hedgesparrow. Many years ago, when a boy, I was on a visit to a relation in North- 

 amptonshire, and a young friend and near neighbour of mine, with whom I sometimes 

 used to go birds'-nesting, came and informed me that he had found a cuckoo's egg in 

 the nest of a hedgesparrow. In process of time the young monster was hatched ; my 

 friend then provided an osier cage, and placed the nest and bird in it near the spot. 

 The old hedgesparrows regularly fed the bird until it was six weeks old, apertures in 

 the cage being left just large enough for them to pass through. It then became mor 

 voracious than usual, and was evidently too much for the poor foster parents, who 

 seemed to feed it with small insects and caterpillars, as far as could be observed. On( 

 morning my young friend visited the cage, and found one of the old hedgesparrows 

 lying dead at the bottom ; he thought the cuckoo had killed it, but I rather suspect 

 that the bird died from anxiety and exhaustion, being unable to satisfy the increasing 

 wants of the young one ; which, not being able to fly, and not being fed with its pro- 

 per food, died the next day. Captain Brown, the intelligent editor of White's Sel- 

 borne, says that the egg of the cuckoo is smaller than that of the hedgesparrow : as 

 never saw but one, and that fifty years ago, I cannot contradict his statement, but, 

 far as I can recollect, the egg appeared to me to be about the size of a thrush's. No\ 

 regarding the different birds' nests chosen by the cuckoo, I can vouch for three only— 

 those of the common wagtail, the hedgesparrow and the titlark ; these three birds 

 have repeatedly seen following young cuckoos and feeding them in the months of June 

 and July, in various summers. The late Dr. Jenner's history of the cuckoo is cer- 



