that he lias usually found the egg of the Cuckoo in the nests of the following species:—Common, ltecd,
and Yellow Buntings, Robin, Flycatcher, Greenfinch, Chaflinch, Linnet, Hedge-Accentor, Pied and Yellow
Wagtails, and'Tree- and Meadow-Pipits, occasionally in those of the Skylark, Chiff-chaff, and Willow-Wren;
in one instance in that of a Blackbird, in another in that of the Red-backed Shrike, and thrice in those of the
Dartford Warbler.
Dr. Bahlamus, in ‘ Naumannia,’ 1853, p. 307, has some most interesting remarks on the fact, as he considers
it, that the egg of the Cuckoo is always found to present a*very recognizable resemblance to the
normal appearance of the egg of the species in whose nest it is deposited. In ‘Naumannia,’ 1854, p. 415,
he gives a list of references to a plate in which are figured sixteen Cuckoo’s eggs, selected to show that this
is the case. The similarity in many instances is very obvious, aud the subject of the article, which does not
seem to he generally known to British ornithologists, deservedly merits further attention. If the Doctor’s
assertion be true, it adds still more to the wonderfully mysterious economy of this bird.
Mr. Alfred Newton informs me that he has more than once found two Cuckoo’s eggs deposited in the
same nest. He also iells me that it not unfrequently lays its eggs in the nest of the Brambling in Northern
Lapland.
Although so much has been written on the means by which the egg is deposited in the nest, yet nothing
quite positive has been ascertained; but a considerable amount of certainty has been the result of repeated
watchings. The generally received opinion is, that the Cuckoo drops her egg on the bare ground, carries it
in her mandibles, and places it in the foster-nest; indeed there are such nests, as those of the Wren and the
Robin, which, when built in the hole of a wall, will admit of no other means of deposit; certain it is that the
eggs of the little green Chalcites of Australia cannot have been placed in the domed nests of the Maluri in
any other way.
When the Cuckoo takes up its station near a garden, it hunts, in the early morning, the ivy-clad wall for
the nest of the Wagtail as closely as a schoolboy, next the espalier-apples trained beside the walk, the
flower-covered trellis over the door of the mansion, the Wistaria upon the railing of the steps, or wherever
it is likely the bird may have fixed upon for a breeding-place; at other times it watches the Wagtail flying
from the boat-house, on the rafters of w'hich, or among the thatch, it may have placed its nest. It will resort
to the more exposed nest of the Flycatcher, often in close proximity to the house; or the actions of the
Robin or the Wren may attract its attention to the hidden nest on the bank-side. These depositories
once discovered, the egg is inserted at the proper moment for the development and well-being of the future
nestling.
The following notes on the nidification of the Cuckoo were the result of some observations made by myself
in the garden of Mr. De Vitre, at Formosa, near Maidenhead, in Berkshire, in May and June 1860. A
pair of Wagtails had built a nest on a beam of the boat-house, two yards distant from the edge of the
roof, and, when first noticed, were in a state of great excitement from the presence of a Cuckoo. The
latter succeeded in depositing an egg, which, with those of the Wagtails, was taken on the 21st of May.
In the beginning of June, Briggs (the gardener) and myself observed another Cuckoo hunting the espalier
apple-trees in the inner garden; among which we afterwards found a Wagtail’s nest with five eggs—
four belongiug to the little architect, aud one to the parasite; when first seen, the latter was on the outside
of the others. On the 18th all the eggs were hatched, nearly simultaneously; and the young Cuckoo
and the young Wagtails continued to occupy the nest in company until the third day, when, at five o’clock
in the morning, the latter were found dead on the border beneath the tree: the parasite had now the nest
all to itself, and, when I examined it on the 22nd, was still callow, helpless, and blind. On the evening
of the 6th of July, the young Cuckoo was just able to hop out of its nest, and could even manage to fly a
short distance. Its weight at this time was exactly three ounces. -
The eggs of the Cuckoo simulate so closely, both in size and colouring, those of most of the birds to
whose care they are confided, that to many persons they would be undistinguishablc. How singular it is that
the eggs of so large a bird should be so small! Here again is mystery, fraught with thought and interesting
speculation for the theorist. The development of the chicks in the egg of the parasite and in those of the
fosterparent, whatever it may be, goes on simultaneously, and all are hatched as near the same time as
possible, that is, in about twelve or fourteen days. For the first two or three days the callow, blind, and
helpless young can scarcely be distinguished one from the other; by the end of that time the parasite is
generally left sole tenant of the nest, and if search be made for its late companions, they will be found dead
on the ground. As to how they are ejected there is much diversity of opinion: the general belief is that
they are shouldered out by the parasite; but from this I entirely dissent, for the simple reason that, judging
from my own observation, I do not believe that at the end o f the third day the parasite has the physical
power requisite to eject the rightful possessors from a deep cup-shaped or a domed nest. By whom then is
this unseemly cruelty performed ? Is it by the old Cuckoo, which is constantly seen in the neighbourhood of
the nest, or by the fosterparents ? May we not more readily imagine that it has been done by the latter,
who, having bestowed all their attention on the parasite, thus cause the death of their own young, which
are then cleared out of the nest in the same way as broken eggshells, faeces, and other extraneous matters ?
On the other hand, if the young should survive until the Cuckoo has gained sufficient strength, I have no
doubt it would, as Dr. Jenner and others have asserted, have both the disposition and the power to effect
the ejectment; but I do not believe it has this power on the third day after being hatched; yet it is on that
day that I have always found the Cuckoo the sole occupier of the nest. The Rev. C. A. Johns states that
a pair of Meadow-Pipits were positively seen to throw out their own young ones to make room for
the intruder. The growth of the usurper is so rapid after the destruction of his companions has secured
the entire supply of food to himself, that he soon fills the nest. He has now the entire attention of the birds
by whom he was incubated; and most industriously do they work to keep him in health and condition. At the
end of a week or ten days, his size and appearance is very similar to that of a moderate-sized toad; at this
time his small, dull, unmeaning eye enables him to discern the approach of an intruder, against whom he
manifests his displeasure by swelling out his body and opening his wide mouth. After this, his feathers make
their appearance, and by the eighteenth day he has the power of hopping in and out of the nes t but he
seldom leaves it until his pinions are sufficiently developed to enable him to fly to a branch in some obscure
part of a tree, where he sits from day to day, receiving contributions from his fosterparents and from other
birds also: here again its power of fascination is brought into play. “ A young Cuckoo which had been
taken from the nest, and was being reared by hand, escaped from confinement. Having one of its wings
cut, it could not fly, but was found again, at the expiration of a month, within a few fields of the house
where it was reared, and several little wild birds were in the act of feeding it. The Bishop of Norwich, in
his ‘Familiar History of Birds,’ mentions two instances in which a young Cuckoo in captivity was fed by a
young Thrush which had only just learned to feed itself.” (‘ British Birds in their Haunts,’ by the Rev. C.
A. Johns.)
How wonderfully solicitous are the little birds for its welfare, and with what spirit do the fosterparents
defend their nurtured Cuckoo! If its removal be attempted, they display the greatest uneasiness. Wagtails
will even fly 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 hack, and exhibiting many other demonstrations
of delight. Yet in a few days their charge will wing his 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.
As some of my readers may consider that I have not sufficiently stated whence the Cuckoo comes in spring,
and whither it goes in autumn, I may state that those individuals which frequent Britain in summer, spend
their winters in the western portion of Africa, and that they follow the little spring birds in their migrations
to and from that country. The British Islands, however, are by no means the only parts in which the
Cuckoo spends its summer and performs its peculiar functions; the whole of Europe, from south to north,
is alike visited by it, and even within the Arctic circle its call serenades the ear. It is also equally abundant
in every part of Asia, visiting the temperate and northern portions in summer, and retiring southwards
at the opposite season; and thus India, Southern China, Persia, Arabia, and Egypt are countries of
whose fauna it forms a part. The Cuckoos have always appeared to me to constitute a part of a large
but not yet clearly defined group of birds, in which the Woodpeckers and Wrynecks must be included: these,
as well as the Cuckoos, are very reptile-like in many of their actions and economy. Their brilliantly
coloured eyes, the darting action of their lengthened tongues, their mode of progression on the boles of the
trees, the peculiar colour of their plumage, particularly of the Wrynecks and Woodpeckers, their extraordinary
snake-like contortions, and other indescribable actions, all point to their similarity.
A young Cuckoo, taken from the nest of a Wagtail at Formosa, 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 and 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 at the distance of thirty or forty yards; and it is probably heard by the smaller
birds at a still greater distance. On the 14th of June I gave the bird to Mrs. Noble, of Berry Hill, who
attended to it with the utmost care, and succeeded in rearing it until it could feed itself; at length the
period of migration arrived, when the impulse to depart became so strong, that it killed itself by flying
against the top of its cage, in one of those paroxysms which occur with all migrants under restraint.
I am indebted to John Gatcombe, Esq., for the following interesting account of the habits of a young
Cuckoo, drawn up by Thomas Archer Briggs, Esq., of Plymouth, who succeeded in keeping it alive for more
than twelve months, when it was accidentally killed:—
“ On the 26th of June, 1858, I obtained a young Cuckoo from a labourer. From the first it was fierce
and pugnacious. It was fed principally upon raw and dressed meat, and a paste composed of the yelk of
eggs and soaked bread; and about the beginning of the second week in July it was able both to fly and to