XX 



he argued his point ; so good a case has he established that every 

 chamber student believes the dodo to have been a gigantic dove, and 

 that when the poet rapturously exclaims 



" Oh that I had pinions fleet as those that hear 

 The dove exulting through the realms of air"* 



he was wishing himself a dodo — pious aspiration ! — and was in spirit 

 forestalling the discovery that our philosophers claim as their own. 



Again, the familiar cuckoo ; her history is very incomplete. Some 

 say the cuckoo feeds her own young one ; some say she haunts the 

 neighbourhood of that young one simply as a guardian, or rather as a kind 

 of umpire to see fair play between the cuckoo squab and its unweary- 

 ing step-mother. And how does the cuckoo get her egg into the nest 

 of the hedgesparrow ? Does she lay it after the approved manner of 

 birds, decently in the nest, and hide it with lichens and cover it with 

 feathers ? Or does she first deposit her treasure on some mossy bed, 

 and then transferring it to her throat, or her beak, or her foot, so aptly 

 fashioned for such a purpose, carry it about while she seeks a home 

 suitable for the board, lodging and education of the juvenile cuckoo it 

 is destined to produce ? And does she "suck birds' eggs," whether "to 

 make her voice clear" or for any oiher occult purpose ? And do the 

 hairs of the hairy caterpillars she devours, " stick in her stomach and 

 cover it with a coating of plush ? " All these statements have been 

 made : why not inquire into their truth or falsehood ? 



The change of plumage in many birds, first intelligibly described by 

 the really illustrious Waterton, that true friend of the feathered tribes, 

 is a subject of the highest possible interest. The naturalist of Walton 

 Hall treats of it especially in the drake, but I believe it is of very 

 general occurrence, a great number of species, especially their males, 

 assuming a nuptial dress of peculiar beauty, and losing it again as 

 soon as the breeding season has past. " About the 24th of May," 

 says Mr. Waterton, " the breast and back of the drake exhibit the first 

 appearance of a change of colour. In a few days after this the curled 

 feathers above the tail drop out, and gray feathers begin to appear 

 amongst the lovely green plumage which surrounds the eyes. Every 

 succeeding day now brings marks of rapid change. By the 23rd of June 

 scarcely one single green feather is to be seen on the head and neck 

 of the bird. By the 6th of July every feather of the former brilliant 



* C. H. Townsend's 1 Jerusalem.' 



