MR. J. IT. GURNEY ON THE ECONOMY OF THE CUCKOO. 373 
However, in argument that the Cuckoo does not always forget its 
young one I may bring forward the late J. J. Briggs’ evidence to 
the effect that one day, when walking with his dog, a Cuckoo came 
flying about him within a hundred yards, agitated and alarmed, 
and occasionally struck down at the dog as the Lapwing does. 
The next day he found a young Cuckoo in a Hedge Sparrow’s nest, 
a very short distance from the spot where the old Cuckoo had 
attracted his attention (Zool. 1849, p. 2G03) to draw him away. 
This finds corroboration in the statement of Dr. J. E. Gray that 
he had seen a Cuckoo, day after day, visit the spot where its 
offspring was being reared (‘Analyst,’ vol. ix. 1839, p. 07), and is 
attested by two correspondents of ‘ The Field’ (February 17th, 1877 
and duly 31st, 1897). 
Egg-eating Cuckoos. 
In the Spring of IS97 1 rose a Cuckoo from a Skylark’s nest in 
which were two eggs, one sound, the other freshly broken and 
sucked. That the Cuckoo was the culprit I have no manner of 
doubt, and if her object was merely to remove the egg and not to taste 
its contents, why was it broken ? for surely it would be easier for her 
t,o fly away with a sound egg than a broken one. An exactly 
parallel case is given in ‘The Zoologist’ for 1897, p. 515 ; and the 
Cow Bird, Molothrus bonariensis, which is parasitic, like our 
Cuckoo, eats eggs (Argentine Orn. vol. i. p. 75), so why not our 
Cuckoo 1 The idea has been derided by many, but as long ago as 
the time of Willoughby (1G76), we read that “having found the 
nest of some little bird, she either devours or destroys the eggs she 
there finds.” The Greater Spotted Cuckoo will also eat them 
(‘Ibis,’ 1SG2, p. 358), as shells have been found in its stomach. 
That Cuckoos are guilty of eating eggs receives what on the face 
of it is undeniable proof from the narration of Mr. II. L. Wilson, 
who, in the Spring of 1880, at Powick, near Worcester, actually 
took the remains of eggs out of a Cuckoo’s crop, judged to be 
Robins and Hedge Sparrows. The circumstances have been briefly 
given under the initials 11. L. W., in ‘The Field’ of January 28th, 
1882, where Mr. Wilson remarks : — “On skinning it [the Cuckoo] 
I found its crop was full of a mash of egg shells. I carefully 
examined this mash and succeeded in separating the broken shells 
(held together by the inside skin) of at least seven eggs, two of 
