5322 Birds. 



and the motive adduced is, that it is to strengthen and clear the voice 

 of the cuckoo, and enable it to sing the better ; but this effect may 

 be fairly doubted, as it is seldom that even our own most talented 

 songstresses resort to this means of adding to the sweetness of their 

 song, though lozenges and other stronger stimulants may be some- 

 times adopted by them for that purpose. 



That cuckoos do cause the destruction of the eggs of many of the 

 smaller birds there can be no doubt, but not for the above-mentioned 

 reason, nor as food. When the cuckoo's egg is found together with 

 other eggs, it is a well-known fact that no sooner is the former 

 hatched than the young cuckoo takes upon itself, as its first labour 

 in life, to throw overboard those unhatched eggs of the poor bird 

 which brought it into existence; and if there chance to be any 

 foster-brothers or sisters hatched at the same time out they must go, 

 and are ejected likewise, as soon as the young cuckoo is strong 

 enough to do so, in order that the young intruder may have the 

 whole nest to itself, and the incessant attention of the two old birds 

 to feed and provide for it alone, a labour and difficulty they are 

 scarcely able to accomplish ; and their own young ones, or the eggs, 

 are to be found dead or broken beneath the nest, till removed by ver- 

 min or some other means. Thus may the cuckoo be considered 

 as a destroyer of other birds' eggs. But is there any authenticated 

 account of cuckoos sucking or swallowing the eggs ? Numbers of 

 wood pigeons' broken eggs and egg-shells are constantly to be found 

 on the ground in places much frequented by those birds, and, being 

 quite white, are easily seen. Gamekeepers and others often impute 

 this to the poor cuckoo having sucked them ; but those eggs, in most 

 instances, upon being examined, will be found to have been duly 

 hatched, or by accident to have been blown or to have fallen out of 

 the very shallow and inartificial nest of the wood pigeon, consisting 

 of only a few twigs or bits of stick placed together, and with very lit- 

 tle or no depth to it. It is also well known that the cuckoo in gene- 

 ral, except the young ones of the season, have left this country by the 

 beginning of July, and the others a short time later; and that the 

 old birds arrive here about the middle of April, according to the na- 

 ture of the weather and season. Now, before and after these two 

 periods the eggs of the wood pigeon, which breeds quite early in 

 the spring, as well as in the summer and autumn months, are con- 

 stantly found emptied of their contents, and laying near the nest, at a 

 time when there are no cuckoos left to molest them ; and when 

 a wood pigeon's or other bird's nest has been robbed it is ten times 



