cuckow. 25.9 



is precisely the same as in the Cuckow.* Conjectures of various 

 kinds have been received as facts, but must give way to the experi- 

 mental observations of Dr. Jenner, laid before the Royal Society, in 

 1788,t from which we learn, that these birds do not pair, but the 

 female is often attended by two or three males,J who seem to be 

 earnestly contending for her favours ; the egg is rarely found in any 

 nest till the middle of May ; for the most part in that of the Hedge 

 Sparrow, Wagtail, Titlark, Yellow-hammer, Greenfinch, Whinchat, 

 and some others, but chiefly in the three former, and has the greatest 

 preference to that of the Hedge Sparrow. § 



The size of the egg rarely exceeds that of the House Sparrow, 

 and is not greatly different in its markings; which is singular, as the 

 parent birds differ, in one being five times as large as the other ; 

 besides the common similarity of the two in colouring, that of the 

 Cuckow has sometimes some bran-coloured spots, as well as black 

 lines, not unlike those seen in the egg of the Yellow-hammer : the 

 weight of a Cuckow's egg is from 43 to 45 grains, || and the bird 

 supposed to lay a great number,^! which may be ascertained from the 



* The stomach of an Owl is proportionably capacious, and almost as thinly covered with 

 external integuments. Dr. Bloch mentions others, in which the structure is similar, viz :— 

 Roller, Goatsucker, Coot, and Kestril. See Besch. der Berl. Gesell. iv. s. 188; to which, 

 we may add the Bee-eater ; and, according to Blumenbach, the Toucan, and Nutcracker. 



f Ph. Trans, v. 78. p. 219. 



J Mr. Pennant observed, that five males were caught in a trap in one season. 



§ The occupiers of a nest have been known to dispute the entrance of the Cuckow ; for 

 on the sight of one, a Redbreast and its mate jointly attacked it, and drove it away. Hist. 

 Ois. vi. 325. 309. BufTon here mentions at least twenty sorts of birds, in whose nests the 

 Cuckow deposits her eggs. The Cowpen Oriole is said to lay her eggs in the nests of other 

 birds, to be hatched by them, in a similar manner with the Cuckow. 



| To 55 grains.— Jenner. As the bird weighs barely four ounces, 38 of such eo-o-g will 

 about equal that of the parent; but the Raven weighs two pounds ten ounces, and the egg 

 not seven drachms, so that 48 are required for the weight of that bird. M. Prof. Sanders 

 makes the Cuckow's egg to be half a Loth — equal to a quarter of an ounce, but by bis 

 description, he means that of the Goatsucker. — Naturf.xiv. 49. 



^[ On comparing the Ovary with that of a Pullet, the cluster of eggs appeared full as 

 as numerous, and in every stage of growth. 



L h 2 



