LIFE AND BEHAVIOR OF THE CUCKOO 
185 
feathers. 1^ Like our birds they reach the 'quill stage' in about a 
week. The young remain in the nest for upwards of three weeks, 
instead of climbing out on the seventh day, as in the case of the 
American black-bill. We should not expect to find a climbing 
stage present, and none has been described. In the case recorded 
by Weir, nest-life was prolonged to twenty-four days, and it 
probably lasts until the cuckoo is able to take short flights. 
After the nest is abandoned the cuckoo is assiduously attended 
for a considerable time by its nurses, as with the cowbird, and 
has been known to eat freely of hairy caterpillars shortly after 
becoming independent. 
21. The sense of fear seems to be expressed in much the same 
way in the European cuckoo, as in the American species, with 
the exception that in the former it is longer deferred and does not 
lead to a premature desertion of the nest. More observations on 
this subject are needed, but the following remarks of Jenner^^* 
will be read with interest: '^Long before it leaves the nest," 
the cuckoo ^'frequently, when irritated, assumes the manner of a 
bird of prey, looks ferocious, throws itself back, and pecks at 
anything presented to it with great vehemence, often at the same 
time making a chuckling more like a young hawk. Sometimes, 
when disturbed in a small degree, it makes a kind of hissing noise 
accompanied with a heaving motion of the whole body." Accord- 
ing to Jenner's account the cuckoo expresses its fear in a manfier 
calculated to inspire fear in its common enemies, and with the 
important exception noted, much in the manner of its American 
relatives. 
Mrs. Blackburn's drawing {Op. cit., p. 110), which is far from correct in 
details (as in the head and foot), shows very little trace of down feathers. 
2» Op. cit., p. 234. 
