NOTES AND QUERIES. 473 



Popular Ornithological Fallacies. —May I ask on what grounds Mr. 

 R. V. Calvert, in the September issue of ' The Zoologist,' pitched upon 

 Cuckoos, in default of Jackdaws, as the culprits in the matter of the de- 

 struction (by sucking the contents) of some eggs belonging to a Hawfinch, 

 whose nest had been built in the fork of a whitethorn bush in Wychwood 

 Forest in the spring of the present year ? My experience leads me to 

 believe that Cuckoos are caluminated when they are alleged to be addicted to 

 this propensity. It is, of course, quite possible that Mr. Calvert may be in 

 possession of that exceedingly desirable — if the charge is to be deemed 

 absolutely proven— and affirmative evidence on the point, for which scientific 

 ornithologists have long been waiting ; if so, I trust it will be recorded in 

 detail in the pages of ■ The Zoologist ' without delay. But, failing testimony 

 of this kind, let me warn the rising generation of naturalists not to give a 

 moment's heed to the oft-quoted fallacy, founded purely on svggestive 

 evidence, that Cuckoos suck the eggs of little birds. That Cuckoos have 

 been intercepted with eggs, either their own or those of other species, in 

 their bills is no proof of the charge so frequently — as I have found in my 

 walks abroad — preferred against them. Of the Cuckoo's economy so little 

 is known that a large field is naturally presented for speculation ; but it 

 appears to me far more likely that the abstraction of an egg from the nest 

 of an alien species may be prompted by an instinctive desire to mask, as it 

 were, the presence of the Cuckoo's egg left behind in its place. Considering 

 the enormous strides ornithology has made during the nineteenth century, 

 the widespread interest that is taken in its study, and the amount of 

 cheap literature that has appeared in connection therewith, it seems to me 

 little short of incredible that, in addition to the one already referred to, 

 there should still linger in the minds of many such preposterous notions as 

 that Green Woodpeckers carefully remove the chips, hewn from their 

 nesting cavity, to a distance ; that small birds will not build in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of other nests ; that young Robins kill the old ones in the 

 autumn; that Nightjars suck the milk of goats; that Swallows do not 

 migrate, but hybernate ; that only Nightingales sing at night ; that Rooks 

 and Crows are identical ; that Cuckoos turn into Sparrowhawks in the 

 winter ; that Robins retire to the wilds to breed ; that Barn Owls suck the 

 eggs of dovecot Pigeons ; that sitting Lapwings (that is, females) decoy in- 

 truders from their nests by their devices ; that Nightingales yearly revisit 

 the same spot for breeding purposes ; that Landrails possess the gift of 

 ventriloquism ; that Wrens forsake if you insert a finger in their nest ; 

 that Mistle Thrushes never sing after the end of April ; that Green Wood- 

 peckers are particularly clamorous on the approach of wet weather ; that 

 Gulls never perch on trees; that the reeling note of the Grasshopper 

 Warbler is not that of a bird at all ; that Long-tailed Tits' nests have two 



