LETTER XXX. 



To THE Honourable Daixes Barrixgton. 



Your observ^ation that the cuckoo does not de- 

 posit its egg indiscriminately in the nest of the first 

 bird that comes in its way, but probably looks out 

 a nurse in some degree congenerous, with whom 

 to intrust its young," is perfectly new to me ; and 

 struck me so forcibly, that I naturally fell into a train 

 of thought that led me to consider whether the fact 

 was so, and what reason there 

 was for it. When I came 

 to recollect and inquire, 

 I could not find that 

 any cuckoo had ever 

 been seen in these 

 parts, except in the 

 nest of the wagtail, the 

 hedge-sparrow, the tit- 

 lark, the whitethroat, 

 and the redbreast, all 

 soft-billed insectivorous 

 birds. The excellent Mr. 

 Willughby mentions the 



nest of the paliunbus (ring-dove) and of the fringilla 

 (chaffinch), birds that subsist on acorns and grains, 

 and such hard food : but then he does not mention 

 them as of his own knowledge, but says afterwards 



The cuckoo. 



