CUCKOO. 
2 
and while for a few moments she swooped down into the grass the poor little bird hovered round with 
quivering wings exhibiting the greatest distress. Under the impression that the Cuckoo must at that 
moment have deposited her egg in the nest of the Pipit, I was proceeding to examine the spot, when it was 
discovered that a plank forming the footway across a marsh-dyke had been removed, and my visit was deferred 
till another day. Again and again I passed the marsh, occasionally noticing one or other of the Pipits, 
though the plank still being absent the small drain in which the old Cuckoo was lost sight of remained 
unexplored. It, was not till some weeks later, when a young Cuckoo attended by a Pipit was observed on the 
marsh wall *, that I made my way towards the spot previously mentioned, when a nest, evidently but lately 
deserted, was at once detected. There were undoubted signs that a juvenile Cuckoo had occupied the nest; 
an egg also was lying in the grass near at hand, though I was unable to find the remains of any of the 
unfortunates that ought in the usual course of affairs to have been ejected. It is very probable, however, 
that the youngsters when turned out may have been picked up by a passing Hook or Crow; and rats, I 
also obtained good evidence, were extremely active in the immediate neighbourhood. Prom the actions of 
the Pipits and the date of the appearance of the young Cuckoo I am convinced that the egg was deposited in 
the manner described ; should my conjecture prove correct, it is evident that the Cuckoo merely skims down 
to the nest, inserts her egg, and immediately departs. 
No one who has watched the female attended from time to time by her numerous admirers can possibly 
imagine that Cuckoos pair ; while fishing quietly in some sheltered corner among the reed-beds of the 
Norfolk broads, or resting on the breezy downs of Sussex, I have met with ample opportunities of observing 
their habits during summer. 
A long list of the birds to whose charge the Cuckoo commits its offspring has been given by several 
authors ; the nests in which I have found the eggs are but five in number — Meadow-Pipit, Reed- Warbler, 
Iledge-Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, and Robin. On the downs of Sussex, as well as on the moorlands of Perthshire 
and other northern counties, I remarked that Cuckoos most frequently consigned their eggs to the care 
of Meadow-Pipits. In the broad district of the east of Norfolk the swaying cradles of the Reed- Wren appear 
to be largely patronized, though I have noticed a few young birds being fed by the Pipits that breed along 
the rough banks in the drier parts of the rush-marshes. 
On the 18th of June, 1873, a Cuckoo that had recently left the nest was watched for some time in one of 
the sheltered valleys on the South Downs between Palmer and Lewes while attended by a pair of Meadow- 
Pipits, and a specimen being required, the youngster was shot, when it proved blind in both eyes. I remarked 
that the foster-parents had at times hovered round their charge, probably in some manner directing its 
movements, as it occasionally settled among the low twigs of the stunted thorn bushes f . 
The note of the Cuckoo may be heard at all hours of the night. I find the following entry in my journal 
for 18GS, under date of May 17th, jotted down while driving through the Western Highlands: — “On pulling 
up at the Inn at Kenlochewe half an hour after midnight a Cuckoo was calling loudly in the plantations round 
the building; others were also heard before daylight as we proceeded on our way towards the east.” In the 
neighbourhood of the Norfolk broads these birds are at times exceedingly noisy during the night. While on 
Ilickling Broad an hour before daybreak on t he 15th of June, 1873, the continued jarring of the Night-Hawks 
and the calls of the Cuckoos, coupled with the discordant sounds arising from the Sedge-birds and frogs in 
the reed-beds, rendered it utterly impossible to distinguish the note of a small Warbler that I believed to be 
in the locality. 
Though the Cuckoo has been repeatedly charged with destroying the eggs of game, I must confess that 
* The embankments thrown up to hold back the waters of the broads, meres, or livers aro termed “ walls " in this part of .Norfolk, 
t The interior of the mouth of this specimen was exceedingly bright orange ; legs and feet pale lemon-yellow, shaded with a tinge of ochre; 
the eyes a dull grey tint and evidently sightless. 
