“ 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 o f 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 o f th em ; but the Cuckoo made no effort to ge t under and eject it, but settled
itself contentedly on the top o f it. All this I find accords accurately with Jen n er’s description o f what he
saw. But what struck me most was th is : The Cuckoo was perfectly naked, without a vestige o f a feather,
or even a hint o f future feathers ; its eyes were not yet opened, and its neck seemed too weak to support
the weight o f its head. The Pipits had well-developed quills on the wings and back, and had bright eyes,
partially open ; yet they seemed quite helpless under the manipulations o f 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 ‘ 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 o f the nest, the only p art where it could throw its
hurthen down the bank. I think all the spectators felt the sort o f horror and awe a t the apparent
inadequacy o f the creature’s intelligence to its acts that one might have felt a t seeing a toothless hag raise a
ghost by an incantation. I t was horribly ‘ uncanny ’ and * grewsome.’ ”
A few words more on this subject. My friend Mr. Noble, o f Park Place, Henley-on-Thames, wrote to me
thus on the 4th o f May, 1871
“ M rs. Noble told me this morning th at a Wagtail had built a nest in our dining-room balcony; on going
thither 1 found the nest in a corner quite exposed, with three eggs in it, one much larger than the o th e rs ;
th e 'tw o smaller ones were o f a greenish colour with minute spots, the larger o f a deeper green and more
largely blotched. Can this be a Cuckoo’s ? ”
On Sunday, May the 21st, I saw this nest with four young birds, three lying by the side o f the nest, from
which they had evidently been but recently thrown, as they were plump and fresh. Allowing, therefore,
that the Wagtail had laid a third egg on the 5th of May, and thirteen or fourteen days for the hatching o f
these birds, they must have been ejected in about three days after exclusion. On the 31st o f the same
month Mr. Noble again w ro te :—“ T he Cuckoo is nearly fledged ; he rises in the nest in the most hideous
way, extending his neck like a serpent.”
Were we in possession of similar positive evidence of the means by which the Cuckoo’s egg is deposited
in the dome-shaped nest o f the Wren and in those o f other birds, as we now have o f those by which the
young of the foster-parents are ejected, the history of the breeding-liabits o f this remarkable bird would be
complete.
Genus O x y lo p h u s .
There are several species o f this genus, which inhabit Africa, India, and some o f the islands to the southward.
They are, I believe, all parasitic, laying their eggs in the nests of Crows, Magpies, and other large birds.
2 0 1 . O x y lo ph u s g l a n d a r i u s ...........................................................................................................Vol. III. PI. LXIX.
G r ea t S po t t e d C u ckoo.
Two individuals o f this species having been killed in our islands, one in Ireland and another in Northumberland,
it becomes necessary to figure it in the present work. Respecting this latter example, I received
the following note from Lord Ravensworth, Dec. 5 , 1 8 7 1 :—
“ You will no doubt be interested to hear th at a specimen o f the Great Spotted Cuckoo was shot last
summer, in Ju ly or August, upon the moors a t Hesleyside, the noted seat of W. H . Charlton, Esq., on the
banks o f the North Tyne. I t has been preserved, but unluckily is indifferently set up.” The Rev. H. B.
Tristram informs me that he handled this bird in the flesh before it had been skinned.
In Southern Europe this bird is plentiful during summer, and in North Africa it is to be seen a t all times.
Even the rapacious Hooded Crow does not disdain to become the foster-parent of the young o f this species.
Genus C o c c y z u s .
Composed o f a limited number o f species, all American, o f which two have been killed in our islands.
2 0 2 . C occyzus am er ic a n u s .
Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
Five instances o f the occurrence o f this species with us have been recorded by Mr. Harting in his ‘ Handbook
o f British B ird s ’—two in Ireland, two in Wales, and one in Cornwall. A figure will be found in
Yarrell’s ‘ H istory o f British Birds,’ vol. ii. p. 2 1 0 .
2 0 3 . C occyzus e ry t h r o ph th a lm u s .
Black-billed Cuckoo.
One killed in the county Antrim, Sept. 2 5 , 1 8 7 1 (see ‘ Zoologist,’ 1 8 7 2 , p. 3 0 2 2 ) .
I have not considered it necessary to figure these two American species, as they certainly do not belong
to our fauna.
Family PICID./E.
With the exception o f Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia, Woodpeckers are distributed over the
temperate and warmer regions o f every country both o f the Old and the New World. About 3 0 0 species