1894] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



J 59 



ever, some doubt whether the Hebrew word so translated ought not 

 rather to be rendered gull. Whatever be the correct interpretation, 

 the cuckoo certainly occurs in Palestine, and ranges, in fact, over the 

 greater part of Northern Asia and Europe in Summer, passing south- 

 wards in Winter. According to a north country rhyme : — 



The cuckoo sings in April, 



The cuckoo sings in May, 

 The cuckoo sings in June 



And then flies away. 



This, however, is erroneous, as, though the cuckoo's call is rarely heard 

 after the middle of June, the birds do not leave us for several weeks 

 afterwards, when they begin their southern journey, some passing on as 

 far as the Cape of Good Hope. About half-a-dozen relatively small eggs — 

 of a white ground colour, varying in tint from greyish to reddish, and 

 speckled with brown — are laid at intervals of a day or two, usually on 

 the ground, whence each is transferred by the beak to the nest of some 

 bird which feeds its young with insects or larvae. The young cuckoo 

 speedily ejects from the nest of its foster-parents all the other nestlings, 

 and if by chance two cuckoo's eggs have been placed and hatched in 

 the same nest, the young cuckoos will struggle with back and wings 

 until one has been forced over the edge of the nest, leaving the success- 

 ful combatant to profit by the assiduous care of its foster-parents, who 

 rarely, if ever, realize that they have reared an interloper. The most 

 frequent victim of this immoral habit of the cuckoo is the hedge- 

 sparrow ; but its eggs have been occasionally found in the nests of 

 other birds, as for instance, the wagtail, tit-lark, robin, yellow-hammer, 

 green-linnet, and sedge warbler. The nestling cuckoo's habit of lifting 

 the other young birds and eggs from the nest seems to be only another 

 manifestation of that deep-seated constitutional tendency which makes 

 the adult birds greedy, peevish and unsocial ; which, in physiological 

 phrase, is due to predominant katabolism, and which in the species (as 

 distinct from individuals) produces a much larger number of males than 

 females. 



No one whose judgment on the bird is based on adequate knowledge 

 of its habits will think favourably of the cuckoo ; and though the 

 beauties of Spring-time, with which its arrival is associated, may 

 justify considerable poetic licence, Wordsworth was scarcely very 

 familiar with the real character of the cuckoo, or he would not 

 have written : — 



O blessed bird ! the earth we pace 



Again appears to be, 

 An unsubstantial fairy place 



That is fit home for thee ! 



