of flight and general appearance give it an undoubted resemblance.*
Towards the middle or end of June its cry
is no longer the “ plain song ” that was heard on its arrival;
it becomes rather hoarser in tone, and its first syllable or
note is doubled. Soon after it is no longer heard at all,
and by the middle of July an old Cuckow is seldom to be
found in these islands, though a stray example, or even,
but very rarely, two or three birds in company, may occasionally
be seen for a month later.
So far about as much of the story of the Cuckow’s life as
falls within the experience of most people in this country
has been told, but it relates mainly to the birds of one sex
only. The females have been living for most of this time
in a way even still more secluded. They are less numerous,
as has been already said, than the males to begin with.
They have no loud and musical note to attract attention f—
one that they utter has been compared to the cry of the
Dabchick, another (or perhaps the same) sounds to the
writer not unlike the call-note of the Whimbrel. The
roaming habit and flight in the open, which soon after their
arrival rendered them conspicuous, has almost entirely
ceased, and when seen, which is comparatively seldom, they
are ordinarily lurking under some kind of shelter. Their
chief business may be safely presumed to be the hunting
for birds’ nests into which they may introduce their
own eggs. From what has gone before it may be gathered
that, in connection with this subject, a good deal remains to
be determined, most of which, however probable, is still to
* Dr. A. E. Brehm (Ornith. Centralblatt, 1877, p. 132) denies, however,
that they take it for a Hawk, asserting that their behaviour towards a Cuckow
is very different. The old fable of the Cuckow turning into a Hawk in wintertime
would seem to have had its origin rather in the appearance of the one
coinciding with the disappearance of the other, than in their outward likeness,
though this indeed leads many people in these days, who ought to know better,
into considering the Cuckow a “ Bird-of-prey.”
+ Some observers have expressed their belief that the female sings, and the
evidence of Blyth (Mag. N. H. viii. p. 329) has been quoted as affording
an “ unquestionable instance” of the fact. Reference to the statement will
shew that it does not rest on his own observation, and he with others may be
safely deemed to have been misled in this matter.
be proved. There is abundant evidence That the nest chosen
by ,the Guckow is often so situated, or so built, that it
would be an absolute impossibility for a bird of her size to
lay ber egg therein by sitting upon or in the fabric, as birds
commonly do,* yet so much caution is used by the Cuckow
in her selection that the act of inserting the egg has been
but seldom witnessed. It is not allowable to assume that
the practice is always followed, but there have been a few
fortunate observers that have actually seen the laying of her
egg on the ground by the hen Cuckow, who then taking it
into her bill has introduced it into the nest—though whether
she had previously found and surveyed the nest, or not, is
another point on which no opinion has been reached!
Among such observers of one part of the operation, so far
as our own. country is concerned, the earliest seem to have
been two sons of Mr. Tripeny, of Coxmuir, who informed
Weir; as recorded by Macgillivray (Br. B. iii. p. 130), that
as they were tending cattle on June 24th, 1838, they saw a
Cuckow alight on a hillock near them. “ It picked up an
egg with its bill, and after having looked round about as if
to ascertain whether there was any one in sight, it hopped
down with it amongst the heath. The lads immediately ran
to the place into which they had observed it descend, and
when at the distance of about six feet, they saw it rise
from the side of a titlark’s nest into which it had introduced
its head. In the nest, which was arched over with
strong heath, and had a narrow entrance from the side,
there was a newly dropped Cuckoo’s egg along with one of
the titlark’s own.” But perhaps the most satisfactory
evidence on the point is that of Herr Adolf Muller, a
forester at Gladenbach in Darmstadt, who says (Zool. Car-
ten, 1866, p. 374) that through a telescope he watched a
Cuckow as she laid her egg on a bank and then saw her
slope her head to the ground, take the egg in her widely-
opened bill and carry it to a Wagtail’s nest close at hand, in
which he immediately afterwards found it.
Young Cuckows too have more than once been found in a nest whence it was,
not easy to see how they could escape.
VOL. II. 3 E