CUCKOO. 
121 
MiNCK,) in the nest of a capocier, and also in the nest of the red 
crowned warbler, (^Rousse-iete.) Vaillant,) though the Cuckoo’s egg- 
is twice the size of the warblers. But one of the most remarkal)le 
circumstances is that though the birds which feed on grain, are more 
numerous in Southern Africa, and their nests more easily found, the 
Cuckoos never select these for depositing their eggs, but uniformly the 
nests of birds which feed on insects. Colonel Montagu makes a remark 
nearly similar with respect to our common Cuckoo, for amongst a num- 
ber which he examined, he found only one with any vegetable materials 
in its stomach.^ 
Temminck, who seems to have studied the Cuckoos with great care, 
expressly says that they live solitary, do not construct nests ; the 
female, by some means not positively ascertained, carries the eggs which 
she has laid into the nests of different species of small birds.” Of course 
he means the genuine Cuckoos, excluding the honey-guide, (^Indicator, 
ViEiLLOT,) and a number of others allied to the genus; but which are 
classed indiscriminately among them by Linnaeus, Latham, and other 
systematic vmters.^ 
In a manuscript of Derham’s on instinct, communicated by Pennant 
to Dailies Barrington, it is stated that “ the Rev. Mr. Stafford was 
walking in Glossop Dale, in the Peak of Derbyshire, and saw a cuckoo 
rise from its nest, which was on the stump of a tree that had been 
some time felled, so as much to resemble the colour of the bird. In 
this nest Vv^ere two young Cuckoos, one of which he fastened to the 
ground by means of a peg and line, and very frequently, for many 
days, beheld the old Cuckoo feed there her young ones.”^ From this 
Dr. Fleming hastily leaps to the conclusion, that, “ in some cases, the 
Cuckoo constructs its own nest and hence he gives it as a charac- 
teristic of the species : “ Nest seldom constructed by the Cuckoo itself, 
the eggs being generally dropped, separately, into the nests of the 
hedge sparrow, &c., in the temporary absence of their owner.” If Dr. 
Fleming, however, will take the trouble to peruse the following state- 
ments of Dr, Darwin and Dr. Jenner, we think he may be induced to 
alter his opinion : — 
“ The following extract,” says Darwin, “ of a letter from the Rev. 
Mr. Wilmot, of Morley, near Derby, strengthens the truth of the fact 
above mentioned, of the Cuckoo sometimes making a nest, and hatching' 
her own young. 
‘ Orn. Diet. Intro. 
^ Phil. Trans, for 1772, p. 2D9. 
^ Architecture of Birds, p. 379. 
^ Br. Zool. p. 90. 
