90 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



how to feed itself. From the first it seemed incapable of seeing 

 any food presented to it ; even a wriggling mealworm was not 

 noticed, and it was evident that it fed by a sense of touch only, 

 a habit which afterwards led to its death ; for, being neglected, 

 it refused to eat, although plenty of food was before it. Even 

 when full-grown it seemed unable to find its food. Another 

 peculiarity was that it always rose to eat, and without getting on 

 its legs would neither accept nor eat anything. It then struck 

 out at the hand which held the food, in the aimless way of 

 young Cuckoos, at the same time generally uttering a low 

 trill, which I particularly remarked, as some writers describe 

 a young Cuckoo as quite silent. A correspondent describes a 

 young Cuckoo as crushing caterpillars before eating them (Zool. 

 1896, p. 384), but mine did not treat mealworms in this manner, 

 but swallowed them at once. At first the sunken eyes of this 

 young Cuckoo were very noticeable, but by the time it was 

 half-grown they were as prominent as in most other birds. The 

 yellow mouth — at first so bright — also soon changed to a dull 

 pink, and the beak became nearly black. When in the nest the 

 position of the head is more bent back than in other nestling 

 birds, and the eye, as I have said, more sunken. Good authori- 

 ties have denied that the parent Cuckoo takes any subsequent 

 interest in its offspring, but at the age of about thirty days my 

 captive was visited by an adult Cuckoo, which was seen to flutter 

 about the cage without actually alighting upon it. I did not 

 myself see it, but the keeper's boy could not be mistaken. 



On July 28th a third young Cuckoo was found, also in a 

 Hedge-Sparrow's nest, all three being discovered by the noise 

 made by the old foster-bird in feeding them. It was about four 

 days old, and was within twenty yards of the second nest, all of 

 them being placed in hedges in one garden. These youngsters 

 were of a black tone of plumage, and must have been the offspring 

 of the same female, judging from this and the remarkable 

 proximity of the nests. 



I may here mention that two Cuckoos did good service in the 

 early part of May by repeatedly feeding (in the presence of my 

 gardener) at Northrepps on a small caterpillar (Cidaria prunata) 

 which infested the gooseberries. On the other hand, some 

 gooseberry-bushes at Keswick, which did not receive their atten- 



