CUCKOOS. 39 



Another old world belief which gave rise to a great deal 

 of interest in the cuckoo was that in winter it turned into a 

 sparow-hawk. In days when men trusted their eyes without 

 the least question, there was some excuse for this belief, for 

 in colour, shape, size, and flight there is so close a resemblance 

 that it is said even the very birds are deceived. It is quite 

 true that they do mob the cuckoo as they will a sparrow-hawk, 

 but whether for the same reason I venture to entertain some 

 skepticism. For it is certain enough that great as is the resem- 

 blance between the hawk and the cuckoo, no country-bred boy 

 would be deceived twice. His practised eye would note the 

 difference, particularly in length of bill; and though the barred 

 breast and under feathers are nearly identical in the two as 

 are the length of wing, tail, and the colouring generally, there 

 is enough variety on which an expert may decide. I am more 

 inclined to believe that the little birds instinctively recognize 

 in the cuckoo an enemy of sorts, though not carnivorous. 

 There are, however, even modern books which perpetuate the 

 belief in the raptorial tendencies of the cuckoo. A translation 

 of a French work now in my possession has an illustration of 

 a cuckoo in the act of killing a golden-crested wren! One has 

 already been massacred, a second is being held in the claw 

 on a branch, and a third, which is venturing to remonstrate, 

 is being threatened in look and tone. As, however, this 

 particular cuckoo seems to be drawn with three toes in front, 

 it is not necessary to go further into the matter. Another 

 work I have tells of a number of cuckoos attacking a late 

 brood of blackbirds. ''They were seen to tear them to pieces, 

 the gardener actually rescuing one from their grasp. Not 

 above three or four robbers were heard to cry 'Cuckoo,' 

 and then in a sort of hoarse unnatural tone.'' Quite so. Pos- 

 sibly these were sparrow-hawks. This book is dated 1864. 

 But there is no hint in really modern books that I have seen 

 at any marauding nature of this sort. The cuckoo lives 

 mainly on caterpillars, and its beak is not of raptorial form. 



Very difficult questions besides these are suggested by 

 the natural history of the cuckoo. How did the parasitic habit 

 begin in the first place? Doubtless some advantage was to be 

 derived from it, but that merely shifts the difficulty from one 

 point to another. How does it happen that the egg of so large 

 a bird should be of so small a size as to effectally deceive 

 those in whose nest it may be placed? Still more strange, 

 how comes it that the cuckoo's egg placed in the hedge- 

 sparrow's nest is like the hedge-sparrow's egg, whilst that in 

 the nest of the wag-tail is like that of the wagtail? We 

 have to confess ourselves completely nonplussed before such 

 questions as these. Further care and observation may by 

 and by throw light on such matters, but at present we are in 



