CUCKOO, 
441 
on a dry branchy and at intervals repeats his note, 
which lasts from the middle of April to the latter 
end of June. The cuckoo is a migratory bird, and 
visits us early in the spring, but is silent for some 
time after its arrival. About the end of September, 
or beginning of October, it departs for other coun- 
tries, and is supposed to go into Africa. 
Every body has heard of the singular manner in 
which the female cuckoo disposes of her eggs, and 
the care she takes to deposit them in the nests of 
other birds at a time when the old ones are absent. 
It is generally believed that she lays but one egg, 
though there is no reason to suppose that she can- 
not lay more ; and an instance is recorded where 
two eggs were found in one nest. However, in 
most cases she leaves but one, and this is rather 
larger than the nightingale’s, of a grayish white, 
and marked with spots of dull violet brown. Dr. 
Jenner has traced the young one from its shell, and 
has related the following history of its singular mam 
ners, which is published in the second part of the 
fifty-eighth volume of the Philosophical Transac- 
tions : 
“ On the 18th of June, 1/87) I examined the 
nest of a hedge-sparrow, which then contained a 
cuckoo’s and three hedge-sparrow’s eggs. On in- 
specting it the day following, the bird had hatched; 
but the nest then contained only a young cuckoo 
and one hedge-sparrow. The nest was placed so 
near the extremity of a hedge, that I could distinct- 
ly see what was going forward in it ; and to my 
