226 
CUCULUS CANORUS. 
hitched the Pipit from its back on to the edge. It then stood quite upright on its legs, which were straddled 
wide apart, with the claws firmly fixed halfway down the inside of the nest, among the interlacing fibres of 
which the nest was woven ; and, stretching its wings apart and backwards, it elbowed the Pipit fairly over 
the margin so far that its struggles took it down the bank instead of back into the nest. After this the Cuckoo 
stood a minute or two, feeling back with its wings, as if to make sure that the Pipit was fairly overboard, and 
then subsided into the bottom of the nest. 
“ As it was getting late, and the Cuckoo did not immediately set to work on the other nestling, I replaced 
the ejected one, and went home. On returning next day, both nestlings were found dead and cold, out of the 
nest. I replaced one of them ; but the Cuckoo made no effort to get under and eject it, but settled itself 
contentedly on the top of it. All this I find accords accurately with .Tenner’s description of what he saw. 
But what struck me most was this : the Cuckoo was perfectly naked, without a vestige of a feather, or even a 
hint of future feathers ; its eyes were not yet opened, and its neck seemed too weak to support the weight of 
its head. The Pipits had well-developed quills on the wings and back, and had bright eyes, partially open ; vet 
they seemed quite helpless under the manipulations of the Cuckoo, which looked a much less developed 
creature. The Cuckoo’s legs, however, seemed very muscular, and it appeared to feel about with its wings, 
which were absolutely featherless, as with hands, the c spurious wing ’ (unusually large in proportion) looking 
like a spread-out thumb. The most singular thing of all was the direct purpose with which the blind little 
monster made for the open side of the nest, the only part where it could throw its burthen down the bank. I 
think all the spectators felt the sort of horror and awe at the apparent inadequacy of the creature’s intelligence 
to its acts that one might have felt at seeing a toothless hag raise a ghost by an incantation. It was horribly 
‘ uncanny 3 and ‘ grewsome ’ 
Comment upon this extraordinary feat is unnecessary, suffice it to say that the testimony of other 
observers is forthcoming to prove that the young Cuckoo ejects its companions when still in a perfectly 
unfledged state, thus displaying a more wonderful instinct than perhaps exists throughout the whole range of 
the bird creation ! 
Concerning the attachment of the foster-parents to their tyrannical offspring, I quote as follows from 
Mr. Gould’s admirable article in the f Birds of Great Britain ’ : — “How wonderfully solicitous are the little birds 
for its welfare, and with what spirit do the foster-parents defend their nurtured Cuckoo. If its removal be 
attempted they display the greatest uneasiness. Wagtails will even Hy in the face of the person who thus 
teases them; and if it be returned to them they will evince their joy by fondling and dancing around it, leaping 
over its back, and exhibiting many other demonstrations of delight. Yet in a few days their charge will wing 
its way to the leafy branch of some tree in the forest, and there sit uttering most strange, piercing, bat-like 
notes, varied occasionally by others resembling the syllables chat-chat.” The affection displayed by the 
Wagtail in particular for the young Cuckoo, inciting it to feed it when grown to three times its own size, is 
well delineated in Mr. Gould’s magnificent plate, in which a Pied Wagtail is drawn standing (as it was actually 
seen) on the back of a Cuckoo seated on a fence, and depositing a caterpillar in its upturned and gaping 
mouth. Touching the habits of the young, I subjoin from the same article the following interesting para- 
graph : — “ A young Cuckoo, which was taken from the nest of a Wagtail at Formosa (Berkshire), exhibited 
many strange actions, which very strongly reminded me of a rattlesnake. If the hand was put towards it it 
raised itself on its legs, protruded its neck, puffed out its feathers, and threw its head forward with a quick 
and determined stroke, precisely like a snake or viper, struck the hand with the open mouth, just as a snake 
would do, and immediately drew the head back in readiness for another stroke. On the second day after it 
was taken, the bird was sufficiently reconciled to me and my daughter to take small pieces of raw beef or 
mutton and caterpillars from the hand, but continued to utter its piercing shriek whenever we approached it. 
Does not this peculiar electrifying shriek attract the attention of the smaller birds when it requires food ? A 
delicate ear will hear this sound for thirty or forty yards, and it is probably heard at a still greater distance by 
the smaller birds.” 
The two types common in Cuckoo’s eggs are the red and the grey. The ground-colour is whitish in some, 
* ‘ Nature,’ No. 124. 
