lea^on which comti witli April. Volumes of great length might be 
written rtgardiBg the Cuckoo and its habits without exhausting its 
history, but in these short notes one can touch only on one or two 
s.ilieDt points. First and foremost is of course the parasitical habit 
of the Cuckoo, which thrusts the burden of its family upon other 
birds. The female Cuckoo lays her egg up<rn the ([round, and 
lifting it in her bill places it in the nest of another bird. In our 
country the Meadow-l’ipit, Hedge-Sparrow, and the Pied Wagtail 
are the species most usually victimised. When the young Cuckoo is 
born it is blind, but is possessed of an instinct which teaches it to 
endeavour to eject whatever else be in the nest beside it, and this 
effort it exerts unceasingly until eggs or young are thrown out and 
it is left the .sole occupant. 
The Cuckoo is a handsome bird, closely resembling in appearance 
the Sparrow-Hawk, for which it is indeed not infrequently taken. 
Above the general colour is ashy blue, the breast is white, barred 
with black ; while in the female on the bresut there is a wash of 
rufus colour which still further leads to its resembUnce to the 
Sparrow-Hawk. The bird has been the subject of much study by 
ornithologists from the time of Dr. Jenner, of vaccination fame, 
up to the present day, and the conclusion has been generally 
arrived at that one of the reasons for the parasitical habit of the bird 
is that the males greatly exceed the females in number. One German 
authority states be believes that the female Cuckoo lays up to as 
many as 17 or 30 eggs, but as, of course, each is placed in a 
different nest definite conclusion on this subject is must difficult 
to arrive at. The old Cuckoos leave our country for their winter 
haunts in Africa, Persia, and elsewhere at the end of July, and not 
the least interesting speculation connected with the migration of 
birds is that with which one wonders how the young Cuckoo without 
guide, philosopher, or friend finds its way later in the year to these 
fJu- distant shores. The egg of the Cuckoo is very variable, light 
blue eggs being occasionally found, but the ordinary type resembles 
closely that of the Meadow-Pipit, though somewhat larger in size 
than that of the latter bird. The Cuckoo is insectivorous, is par- 
ticularly fond of caterpillars, and is stated to be the only bird which 
preys upon the hairy variety of this insect. 
Dipper, or Water-Ousel.— The Dipper, or, as it is known in 
Scotland, the Water Crow, is a native bird, distributed over the 
BritLsh Isles, more numerously on the mountain streams of our 
higher land^ though it is also to be found on the moorland streams 
of Devonshire and elsewhere. In appearance the Dipper resembles 
a large Wren, being of the same btitld and carrying its tail in the 
same perky, upturned fashion. In colour this bird is of a dark 
sooty Drown, showing up in the surroundings where it is_ to be 
observed as a distinct black, save on the breast, which is pure 
white. Ijs length is seven inches. 
This bird is one of our most interesting on account of the 
peculiarity of its habit, di.sa.ssociated as it is with anything in its 
appearance which would lead us to suppose it possesses the powers 
it hM._ At we have stated, it resembles the Wren in its appearance, 
but it is really a water bird, under the surface of which it obtains its 
food. It feeds chiefly upon the Caddis-Worm and the larvz of 
water insects ; these it finds at the bottom of pools into which it 
walks, or, slipping off the side of a stone, disappears horizontally 
beneath the surface. How the Dipper manages to keep itself under 
Water in places such as the swift running part of a stream, where it 
may often be ebsers-ed, is somewhat of a mystery, yet it does so, and 
