AN ACCOUNT OF A YOUNG CUCKOO. 
By W. H. Benshed. 
In the month of July, 1834, I had a young Cuckoo given to me by a man who 
was working in a stone-quarry. It was caught in its attempt to fly from the 
nest of a pair of Wagtails built in a cleft in the rock. The man had confined the 
young bird under a sieve, and informed me that the old birds had fed it during 
the day. My residence being but a short distance from the quarry, I took an 
old Bee-hive, and putting some net over the bottom, I placed the young bird 
into it, and, fixing three Hop-poles in a triangle upon the lawn, set the hive 
upon its side, in the top part, and watched the result. In a few minutes I 
heard a low chirping note from the Cuckoo, and directly afterwards I saw the 
two Wagtails settle upon the lawn. Delight and joy really appeared in all their 
actions; they rushed to and fro in the air, flying about the hive, and hovering 
near it, with a graceful undulating motion, the Cuckoo crying more eagerly for 
food as they darted past, or hung fluttering in the air. 
I could not, moreover, help noticing the actions of several other birds. A 
brood of young Swallows flew from the chimney-top as the old ones gave their 
peculiar note, or cry of warning of danger, which is heard when a Cat or Hawk 
makes its appearance. A Wren flew to the hive, and seemed to eye its inmate 
with some curiosity, but a bold, pugnacious Robin shewed such a disposition for 
fighting that the cock Wagtail boldly attacked and drove him away. 
The hen had now procured some food, which appeared to consist of small But¬ 
terflies and caterpillars, but the nest seemed to excite her suspicions; she 
evidently feared being entangled with it. I then put a twig for a perch, and 
she soon settled upon it, and gave the young Cuckoo its food. The two old birds 
continued to feed it regularly for about a week, when their attention seemed to 
be less constant, and, fearing it would be starved, I set it at liberty, but fre¬ 
quently saw it until the end of August, sitting upon the end of a Hop-pole, and 
still attended by the Wagtails. 
The Rev. Gilbert White, in his Natural History of Selborne , has taken 
notice of the instinct of the Cuckoo, in selecting the nest of a soft-billed bird with 
whom to entrust her young. Without this precaution, it would seem to be a 
total contradiction to the general feeling and impulse of Nature, and there can be 
no doubt of the care and forethought of the Cuckoo, in thus selecting the nest of 
birds which will provide food suitable for her young; and an extraordinary 
instinct is given to the young Cuckoo, to destroy its helpless companions by 
thrusting them out of the nest, beneath which they perish, thereby receiving the 
undivided attendance of the old birds, as it is most probable they would not be 
able to rear so large a bird and their own young too, particularly as the Cuckoo 
