CUCKOO. 121 



minck,) in the nest of a capocier, and also in the nest of the red 

 crowned warbler, (Rousse-tete, Vaillant,) though the Cuckoo's egg- 

 is twice the size of the warblers. But one of the most remarkable 

 circumstances is that though the birds which feed on grain, are more 

 numerous in Southern Africa, and their nests more easily found, the 

 Cuckoos never select these for depositing their eggs, but uniformly the 

 nests of birds which feed on insects. Colonel Montagu makes a remark 

 nearly similar with respect to our common Cuckoo, for amongst a num- 

 ber which he examined, he found only one with any vegetable materials 

 in its stomach. 1 



Temminck, who seems to have studied the Cuckoos with great care, 

 expressly says that they " live solitary, do not construct nests ; the 

 female, by some means not positively ascertained, carries the eggs which 

 she has laid into the nests of different species of small birds." Of course 

 he means the genuine Cuckoos, excluding the honey-guide, (Indicator, 

 Vieillot,) and a number of others allied to the genus ; but which are 

 classed indiscriminately among them by Linnaeus, Latham, and other 

 systematic writers. 2 



In a manuscript of Derham's on instinct, communicated by Pennant 

 to Daines Barrington, it is stated that "the Rev. Mr. Stafford was 

 walking in Glossop Dale, in the Peak of Derbyshire, and saw a cuckoo 

 rise from its nest, which was on the stump of a tree that had been 

 some time felled, so as much to resemble the colour of the bird. In 

 this nest were two young Cuckoos, one of which he fastened to the 

 ground by means of a peg and line, and very frequently, for many 

 days, beheld the old Cuckoo feed there her young ones." 3 From this 

 Dr. Fleming hastily leaps to the conclusion, that, " in some cases, the 

 Cuckoo constructs its own nest ;" and hence he gives it as a charac- 

 teristic of the species : " Nest seldom constructed by the Cuckoo itself, 

 the eggs being generally dropped, separately, into the nests of the 

 hedge sparrow, &c, in the temporary absence of their owner." 4 If Dr. 

 Fleming, however, will take the trouble to peruse the following state- 

 ments of Dr. Darwin and Dr. Jenner, we think he may be induced to 

 alter his opinion : — 



" The following extract," says Darwin, " of a letter from the Rev. 

 Mr. Wilmot, of Morley, near Derby, strengthens the truth of the fact 

 above mentioned, of the Cuckoo sometimes making a nest, and hatching 

 her own young. 



1 Orn. Diet. Intro. 2 Architecture of Birds, p. 379. 



3 Phil. Trans, for 1772, p. 299. 4 Br. Zool. p. 90. 



