26 
Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
country, is now an admitted fact, and the constant following 
of the female bird by several of the opposite sex, not only 
allows of no opportunity for jiairing for life, but takes away 
every possibility of her having time to build a nest. That the 
Cuckoo is polyandroLis seems to be equally certain, and the 
note of the female is also different from that of the male, 
which is the bird which utters the well-knowm “ Cuckoo ” call. 
The female’s, on the other hand, is a “ whittling ” or “ water- 
burbling ” cry, unlike that of any other British bird, and, when 
uttered, is quite sutificient to set all the male Cuckoos calling for 
some distance round. The flight of the Cuckoo is very similar 
to that of a Hawk, and the appearance of one on the wing 
is the signal for its being mobbed by Swallow.s, Martins, and 
other small birds, just as if it were really a Bird of Prey. 
Whether the smaller species really mistake it for a Hawk, 
or really recognise it as a common enemy which brings disas- 
ter at times on their progeny, one can hardly say, but that its 
Accijiitrinc character is useful to the Cuckoo can hardly be 
doubled, as will be seen from the narrative which Mrs. Frasi r 
has given of a singular occurrence which came under her 
notice. 
This lady had found a Stoncchat’s nest, and was engaged 
in painting a jiicture in its vicinity, when she saw a female 
Cuckoo fly down to the ground with an egg in its bill. At the 
same moment the male Cuckoo swooped down near the Stone- 
chats, when the foolish little birds at once flew to attack it and 
drive it from their nest, and pursued it for some distance, 
during which interval the female Cuckoo quietly approached 
the nest and dropped her egg into the latter. She then uttered 
her peculiar call, and was immediately joined by the male, and 
both birds flew off together in triumph. 
Tlie Cuckoo, having laid her egg, carries it about in her bill 
and places it in the nest which she selects as a suitable one for 
the well-being of her youngster when it is hatched. To the 
fact that Cuckoos have been shot with an egg in their mouth is 
no doubt due llio myth that the bird devours eggs, no one 
having, apparently, suimised that the egg which the bird was 
carrying might be its own ! Having deposited the egg, it is 
generally supposed that the old. female takes no further interest 
in its offspring, and certainly it would appear that, by their 
