ESSAY VI. 



ON THE PREVAILING NOTIONS WITH REGARD 

 TO THE CUCKOW. 



£ | THOUGH it hath been fo implicitly believed for centuries,. 



J- that the cuckow neither hatches nor rears its young, I 

 hope to be permitted to exprefs my doubts, with regard to this 

 mod unnatural neglect in the parent bird being general. 



I find that this moft prevailing opinion takes its rife from what 

 is faid by Ariitotle, in the ninth book, and twenty- ninth chapter, 

 of his Natural Hiftory,. who there aflerts, thas the cuckow does 

 not build a neft itfelf,. but makes ufe molt commonly of thofe of 

 the wood-pigeon, hedge- fparrow, lark, (which he adds are on 

 the ground) as well as that of the sc^wf/j % which is in trees. 



Now if we take the whole of this account together, it is cer- 

 tainly not to be depended upon ; for the wood-pigeon b and hedge 



a The yfoopg is rendered luteola; but, as there is no defcription, it h 

 difficult to fay what bird Ariitotle here alludes to ; Zinanni fuppofes it to 

 be the greenfinch. 



b The wood-pigeon, from its iize,, feems to be the only bird which is 

 capable of hatching, or feeding, the young cuckow ; yet, if it is recol- 

 lected that this bird lives on feeds, it is probable that the cuckow, whofe 

 nourilhment is infects, would either be foon ftarvtd, or incapable of di- 

 gefting what was brought by the fofter-parent. This objection is equally 

 applicable to the if it is our greenfinch. 



fparrow- 



