Life-history of the Cuckoo. 117 



very interesting paper on the subject written in German, which 

 has been put into my hands for translation. The article to which 

 I allude " On the strange variation in the eggs of the Cuckoo, " 1 

 was written so long as twelve years ago, by the celebrated orni- 

 thologist, Dr. Baldamus of Stuttgart. The opinion which he then 

 expressed, and the theory which he built upon the facts he had 

 accumulated with reference to this subject, were published in the 

 principal ornithological periodical of Germany, the Naumannia for 

 1853, of which the same Dr. Baldamus is the talented editor. 

 This opinion however has never been presented to the British 

 public in an English dress, and consequently has never met with 

 the attention in England which it deserves : moreover the rarity 

 of meeting with the book which contains it, as well as the lengthy 

 article, and scientific German, in which the author has developed 

 his facts and his opinion, have helped to deter the general enquirer 

 from entering upon a question, which to the ordinary observer will 

 be found to be of considerable interest, and to the out-door natural- 

 ist is worthy of most patient attention, as well as diligent investi- 

 gation ; and yet which notwithstanding its deep interest, and 

 curious and extraordinary as it is, has probably never yet come 

 before the notice (I may almost venture to say) of any one in this 

 Society. 



Having thus introduced Dr. Baldamus and his paper, so that I 

 need not hereafter break the thread of my story, I will begin by 

 saying a few words upon other peculiarities of the Cuckoo, before 

 I come to the chief subject of this article, the extraordinary colour- 

 ing of its eggs. 



I have already in my last paper on the Ornithology of Wilts, given 

 some general account of the bird, so that I need now only briefly 

 recapitulate some of its chief characteristics. Thus I will remind my 

 readers that it belongs to the large Order of Perching Birds, and to 

 the Tribe of Climbers : that it is migratory, arriving in this country 

 in April, and leaving in July : that its general appearance at a short 

 distance, often leads the casual observer to mistake it for a hawk, 



1 "Neue Beitrage zur Fortpflanzungsgeschichte des Europaischen Kukkuks 

 (Cuculus cauorus) von E. Baldamus". Naumannia, 1853, pp. 307 — 326. 



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