50 EMBERIZID.E. 



spring, and soon became very tame. It had been in our pos- 

 session a short time, when one morning we heard, at some dis- 

 tance, as we supposed, the note of a Yellow Bunting, and 

 concluded that the retreat of our little prisoner had been dis- 

 covered by one of its own species, and wondered that it did 

 not reply to the welcome call. The visitor seemed to be at the 

 farther end of the garden, so very distant and soft its note 

 appeared ; still our captive made no reply, and appeared to 

 take no notice, but continued to feed or hop about its cage, 

 as if unconscious of the vicinity of a friend, and we wondered 

 at its dulness in not hearing what, although very distant, was 

 still audible in the perfect quiet of a country sitting-room. 

 The supposed visitor appeared stationary the whole day in a 

 particular part of the garden, which was remarkable, as such 

 birds were never heard in the middle of the village ; and we 

 admired the more its persevering constancy. On a recur- 

 rence of the same circumstances the following day, our little 

 bird was watched, and it became apparent that he alone was 

 the singer, and his the note that, being uttered with exceeding 

 delicacy, had appeared to come from such a considerable dis- 

 tance. 



The same little individual acted afterwards an interesting 

 and remarkable part. In the course of the summer, we met 

 with a young cuckoo, and put it into the cage that was inha- 

 bited by the Bunting, the cage being a large one. The 

 cuckoo was fully fledged in the mottled plumage peculiar to 

 the young of that species, and old enough to be able to sit 

 upon a perch ; it was, at first, very shy, and, although con- 

 stantly crying for food, would not take anything that was 

 offered to it, and appeared entirely incapable of feeding itself. 

 We tried many devices, such as fastening a bird's skin, with 

 wings extended, upon a quill, and then putting a piece of 

 meat upon the point of the quill, which was made to project 

 beyond the beak of the bird. This stratagem, which is some- 



