CHAPTER XII 
THEORY OF DOMINATING CUCKOOS 
With most species of birds it is probably the males 
which secure desirable breeding grounds and hold 
them against the advent of the females. The 
whole system has been ably expounded by H. Eliot 
Howard in his recent work Territory in Bird Life , 
in which he claims that one of the uses of song is to 
announce to unattached females the whereabouts 
of males which are in possession of serviceable 
nesting areas, and so are open to take a mate. 
With Cuckoos the proceedings would appear to be 
somewhat different. There being no nest, no sit- 
ting mate nor young for which to provide protec- 
tion, the influence of the males in the selection of 
the breeding territory proper is likely to be very 
slight. A hen Cuckoo in her first year is not im- 
probably attracted to the place of her upbringing ; 
and until she has been able to establish her claims, 
as regards both territory and natural fosterers, she 
doubtless wanders about in the vicinity, as near by 
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