I'l 1'Ki)().
and while for a few moments she swooped down into the grass tin; poor little bird hovered round with
quivering wings exhibiting the greatest distress. Under the impression that the Cuckoo must at that
moment have deposited her egg in the nest of the Pipit, T was proceeding to examine the spot, when it was
discovered that a plank forming the footway across a marsh-dyke had been removed, and my visit was deferred
till another day. Again aud again 1 passed the marsh, occasionally noticing one or other of the Pipits,
though the plank still being absent the small drain in which the old Cuckoo was lost sight of remained
unexplored. It was not till some weeks later, when a young Cuckoo attended by a Pipit was observed on the
marsh wall *, that. 1 made my way Inwards the spot previously mentioned, when a nest, evidently but lately
deserted, » as at. once deteeled. There were undoubted signs that a juvenile Cuckoo had occupied the nest;
an egg also was lying in the grass near at hand, though I was unable to tintl the remains of any of the
unfortunates that ought in the usual course of affairs to have been ejected, ll is very probable, however,
that the youngsters when turned out may have been picked up by a passing Rook or Crow; and rats, I
also obtained good evidence, were extremely active in the immediate neighbourhood. From the actions of
the Pipits and the dale of the appearance of the young Cuckoo I am convinced that the egg was deposited in
the manner described; should my conjecture prove correct, it is evident that the Cuckoo merely skims down
to the nest, inserts her egg, aud immediately departs.
No one who has watched the female attended from time to time by Iter numerous admirers can possibly
imagine that Cuckoos pair ; while fishing quietly in some sheltered corner among the reed-bods of the
Norfolk broads, or resting on the breezy downs of Sussex, I have met with ample opportunities of observing
their habits during summer.
A lung list of the birds to whose charge the Cuckoo commits its offspring bus been given bv several
authors; the nests in which I havo found the eggs are but live in number—Meadow-l'ipil, Reed-Warbler,
Hedge-Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, and Robin. On the downs of Sussex, as well as on the moorlands of Perthshire
and other northern counties. I remarked that Cuckoos most frequently consigned their eggs to the care
of Meadow-Pipits. In the broad district of the east of Norfolk the swaying cradles of the ltced-Wren appear
lobe largely patronized, though I have n otic 'ed a few young birds being fed by the Pipits that breed along
the rough kinks in the drier parts of the rush-marshes.
On the ISth of June, lSTo, a Cuckoo that had recently left the nest was watched for some time in ono of
the sheltered valleys on the South Downs between Fulmer and Lewes while attended by a pair of Meadow-
Pipits, and a specimen being required, the youngster was shot, when it proved blind in both eyes. I remarked
that the foster-parents had at times hovered round their charge, probably in some manner directing its
movements, as il occasionally settled among the low tw igs of the si noted thorn hushes •)•.
The note of the Cuckon may be heard at all hours of the night, I find the following entry in my journal
for 1808, under date of May 17th, jotted down while driving through the Western Highlands :—" On pulling
up at the Inn at Kenlochewe half an hour after midnight a Cuckoo \va- calling loudly in the plantations round
the building; others were also heard before daylight as we proceeded on our way towards the east." In the
neighbourhood of the Norfolk broads these birds are at times exceedingly noisy during the night. While on
Sickling Broad an hour before daybreak on the ISth of June, 1878, the continued jarring of the Night-lLiwks
and the calls of the Cuckoos, coupled with the discordant sounds arising from the Sedge-birds ami frogs in
the rcrd-beds, rendered it utterly impossible to distinguish tin' nice of a small Warbler that 1 believed to be
in the locality.
Though the Cuckoo has been repeatedly charged with destroying the eggs of game, I must confess that
• The embankment, thrown up to )10]j i„ck t u 0 waters uf tlie broad-, morel, or rivers are, termed - walls" in Ihii port ol Norfolk,
t The interior of themoUl. of lhi. specimen wni eiiwdingly bright orange: legi and feel pali- lemon-yellow, shaded with i tinge of ochre;
the eyes a dull criv lint and evidently sighting.
CUCKOO.
this habit has entirely escaped my notice. It was re itly asserted by a well-known sportsman in the 1 Field"
that a keeper had watched a Cuckoo carry off the egg of a Pheasant from the nest, and also shot the thief
while consuming the plunder. In order to inquire more fully into the matter, I requested the address of the
man, and ascertained the facts to lie as follows:—The keeper happened to have noticed a Pheasant's nest
from which scleral eggs had disappeared, and imagining that a shepherd hoy H ;i- the culprit, concealed
himself in a hedgerow to watch the spot; almost immediately a Cuckoo alighted in an oak ln-c and shortly
after flew down and carried an egg some ten or a dozen yards on to the open ground. While in I he act of
sucking il the bird was shot, and close at hand were found the shells id' the eggs previously stolen from the
nest. In answer lo a question as lo the manner in which the egg was transported, my informant staled
that the bird .appeared to have peeked • hole in the shell before taking it in its bill. Two cases in which
Cuckoos di^troyed the eggs of Wood-Pigeons had also eome under his observation, the eggs in holh instances
being sucked on the nests. It was only in the summer of 1881) when all the smaller birds were scans', owing
to the wide-spread destruction caused by the severity of the winter, that the keeper bail noticed t'uekoos
attack the eggs of either Pheasants or Pigeons. This uiau evidently considered eggs the natural food of the
Cuckon—small, perhaps, preferred, as a rule, but the larger taken without hesitation in the absence of the
former. More recently he had shot a female Cuckoo which had settled on a rough bank by the nest of a
ltobin, and devoured in succession the contents of three eggs, lie also informed me that he had seen a female
Cuckoo sitting on the nest of a Spotted Flycatcher*, where she remained for some time; this latter
statement by no means corresponds with my own observations, which would lead to the belief thai the egg
is laid on the ground and then conveyed to the nest.
If the Cuckoo is as destructive to eggs as its accusers declare, it appears strange that the depredatiens
or a species so widely distributed have hitherto escaped my observation : I have also great doubts as to whether
the beak of a Cuckoo is sufficiently powerful to break the egg of a Pheasant Many years ago 1 frequently
assisted the keepers in killing down Jays, Magpies, and Crows during spring in a densely wooded district in the
east of Sussex. These robbers were captured in Imps baited with the eggs of Thrushes or Pigeons; but though
Cuckoos were exceedingly numerous not a single bird was taken.
Letters also appeared in the • Field' during the first quarter of ls-s* asserting that the Cuckoo had been
discovered to feed largely on the eggs of small birds. The only instance I ever met with in tiny manner
corroborating this supposed habit occurred many years ago in Sussex. While passing a thick clump of holly
bushes n Cuckoo blundered out within a yard, aud On examining the spot I discovered the nest of a I ledge-
Sparrow containing one egg, the shell of which exhibited two small slits or cuts apparently caused by the
bink of • bird. On further search being made, another egg, entirely uninjured, was detected on the ground
below the ucst.
Witbin the hut few years 1 ascertained from the natives in a remote dislrict of the eastern counties that
(he belief still exists that the Cuckoo turns into a Hawk during winter.
* The FI)«il(hiT wn referred to u a " lily builder" c> name net mifnsinrnlly beHowcd on MS WbiteUmal inSuMrtl; lberetr».,hom-r.,.r,
nn doubt u to the spec if s, the n«t being biii It on the limb of a trained fruit-tree, and tbe ha I.e. a nd pinning- of the hint ifeuiUel) demihed.