Cuckoos ill May. 
if his voice soon grows strained and querulous, and he Hits, before summer grows ohl 
from the scene of his bhghted ideals ? 
All know the emulous cry of the male cuckoo ; hut we have to listen more care 
fully for the compelling voice of his mate. It is a prolonged buljl.ling call, less loud 
than his own, and sounding as if she was imprisoned, like some genie, in a water- 
bottle. The call works on any male cuckoo uilhin hearing with magicnl power. 
He follows it, cuckooing loudly, and at limes breaks from sheer excitement into 
harsh cackling notes which presage June. If asecond cuckoo answers the same call, 
he noise is trebled and quadrupled. It becomes a positive tumult of cuckooing and 
stammered cackle, stimulated anew by the bubbling cry of the hen, as soon as il 
shows any sign of dying down. 
The hen cuckoo solves all complicated questions of parentage by retiring from the 
post of parent. She cannot be said to be a model of the domestic virtues ; but she 
provides well for her young, in her own way. There is nothing to prevent her 
leaving eggs lying to be crushed turn or addle, like the sparrows' and starlings' eggs 
which we occasionally find on the tennis lawn. No doubt, if she did so, the species 
would become extinct ; but there would be nothing unprecedented tn that. Unable 
to secure for her offspring the advantages of a respectable home in any other way, 
she places her eggs, one by one in a series of other birds' nests. Instead of one- 
sixth of a mother, each cuckoo chick is thus ensured a whole one ; and an absent 
father and irresponsible is exchanged for of the utmost attentiveness and affection 
If the hen cuckoo were to argue herself possessed by an exceptionally keen spirit 
of maternal devotion, it would be hard to refute her. 
Once she has transported her egg to the chosen titlark's or hedge-sparrow's nest — 
or whatever other species slie may select— she feels her duty is complete. She bub- 
bles no more after May or early June, except in northern and upland districts where 
the whole scheme of nature is later. It is extremely rare for a cuckoo to show any 
interest in a young bird, either at its own or any other species. Cuckoo's eggs are 
very small for the size of the bird ; for thy approximately counterfeit the eggs of the 
jmall birds which can be trusted to bringf Uie young cuckoo its proper insect diet. 
The young cuckoo has thus to make its way in the world at an abnormal pace, if it 
is to be tit to fly scuth in autumn. To attain this end an unusual capacity for self 
help must needs be combined with unusual powers of attraction ; and the young 
cuckoo has both qualities in an extreme degree. Self help of no common order is 
shown when, on its second or third day, the soft, blind nestling turns its foster-broth' 
ers out of their nest by w-ithing beneath them and lifting the'n over the ( dge with 
its hollow back. A Prussian virtue is applied with Prussian logic ; and if there are 
two voung cuckoos in the same nest, the stronger throws out the weaker. 
Next comes into play the young cuckoo's extraordinary power of exciting the 
affection of its foster-parents. Within the narrow limits of their intelligence — for 
birds pay no heed to their young shaken out of the nest, whether by a young cuckoo 
or a gale — the measure of a bird's, devotion in the nesting season is the extent of the 
needs of its young. The young cuckoo's needs are enormous : and ihe old birds work 
to appease its appetite in a sort of ecstasy of service. This does not end when the 
expanding cuckoo has left, or rather burst, 1he nest. They will go on feeding it 
after it can fly, even if they can only reacli its mouth by perching on its back, 
