Meadow Pipit ; these nests being rather - numerous, and not
very difficult to find. Two eggs of the Cuckoo have been occasionally
found in one nest ; but it is the prevailing ©pinion
that the second egg is deposited by a second Cuckoo, and
that one Cuckoo does not go a second time to the same nest
to lay an egg. Mr. Hoy, Mr. Salmon, and other good ój*
servers, bear testimony to the fact of the adult Cuckoo occasionally
destroying one or moré of the eggs, of the nest in
which she deposits her own. But thu young Cuckop-when
hatched is almost always found alone in the nest, without any
eggs or young birds, whatever may happen to be the nést
in which it has been hatched, the foster parent' birds -also
attending to its wants with the greatest assiduity ; and in
order to ascertain the cause,of this apparent preference to the
exclusion óf their own offspring, Dr. Jennér,-at the request
of John Hunter, made a series of observations and experiments
to illustrate- the natural history of the Cüek’oö,-the
details of which were published in the Transactions of the'
Royal Society for the year 1788. The results óf Dr. Jen-f
ner’s observations may be briefly stated as follows :-r—
The small birds in the nests of which the Cuckoo’s es-ff' is
most frequently found, take four or five days in laying Jhgjr
eggs. DuringÎ this , time,—generally after, one; or two eggs
havé been laid,—thé Cuckoo contrives to deposit her!egg,
leaving the future care- of it to the owner of the nest. V When
the bird has sat her usual time, and disengaged the young
Cuckoo and some of her own offspring from’ the shell, the
young Cuckoo being commonly hatched first, her own young
ones, and any of her eggs that remain unhatched, are soon
turned out, the young Cuckoo rénjaining possessor of thé
nést, and the sole object of her care. The young4 birds are
not previously killed, nor are the eggs demolished^.but all are
left to perish together, either entangled about the bush which
contains the nest, or lying on the ground under it. The
expulsion is effected by.the; young Cuckoo, who is generally
strong enough-. the day after , it. is hatched to insinuate itself
under the remaining eggs ;or young birds, and one after another,
!©• hoist: them out ; thusi securmg;-to itself ‘ the whole
of thfitifood brought by the old birds, who adopt and provide^
for thesyoung; Onckoor as if unable-to distinguish between
it and their' own- young,Vsiriceaf any remain, which is
sometime's :the case, all are. fed Alike. ..ft* have mentioned that
two.eggs? of the, Cuckoo ar.e sometimes found in one -nest; the
following paragraph, referring tol such an nceurrence, is from
Dr.> Jenneris paper:—“ June’; 27th, 1787^. Two Cuckoos
and a Hedge-sparrow were hatchid in the same nest this
morning ; one , Hedge-Sparrow’s. egg , remained !unhatched.
;fn a few; hours* after, a contest began between the Cuckoos
for,the possession .ofi thue vnest; which continued.undetermined
till the next afternoon»;, when one of them, which was some-
whapsuperi©r:in. size,; turned out the: other,^together with the
young Hedge'isparrow; * and theaunhatched egg. This ■ contest
was~wery * remarkabldi^ The combatants alternately appeared
t.6 «have the advantage,, as each carried: the. .other several
lftimies nearly to the top of the nest, and then, aunk down
again, „oppressed-by th.ej weigh tu f i t s burthen ; d ill; at length,
after various, .efforts,’ ther strongest prevailed, and was afterwards
brought upfby the Hedge-sparrows.’i**^
“ I t the extraordinary
exertions of the .young • Cuckoo, when it is two or
three days -old, if a bird be put into the nest with it that is
too. weighty for i t . toidift out. In this state it seems ever
restless and uneasy. But this disposition for turning out its
companions beginsdo decline bom the time it is two or three
till it is about twelve days .old, when, as far as I have hitherto.
seen, it ceases. Indeed,t:the*'disposition for throwing out
the egg appears to cease a few days sooner;. for I have frequently
seen the young Cuckoo, after it had been hatched