From numerous observations made by competent naturalists in different localities, it appears that the usual time of arrival of the Cuckoo in this country is between the 20th and 27th of April, and the average date of its appearance may be said to be the 23rd of that month, St. George’s Day. In no instance, so far as I am aware, has the bird been heard or seen before the 6th of April. On that date in 1872 Between April and the end of August, it may be found generally distributed throughout the British Islands, even as far north as Orkney and Shetland. It is also a well-known visitor to the Outer Hebrides. On the European continent it occurs throughout Scandinavia and Russia, and is found in all the countries southward to the Mediterranean, which it crosses in the autumn for the purpose of wintering in North Africa. Eastward it extends through Turkey, Asia Minor, and Persia, to India, and according to Horsfield and Temminck, visits even Java and Japan. The Cuckoo does not pair, but is polygamous. The nests in which the Cuckoo’s eggs are most frequently deposited are those of the Hedge Sparrow, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, and Reed Warbler, but according to Dr. Thienemann, a great authority on the subject of European birds’ eggs, they have also been found in the nests of the following very different species:— Garden Warbler. Blackcap. Whitethroat. Lesser Whitethroat. Redstart. Black Redstart. Robin. Reed Warbler. Sedge Warbler. Marsh Warbler. Grasshopper Warbler. Willow Wren. Hedge Sparrow. Common Wren. Whinchat. White Wagtail. Grey-headed Wagtail. Tawny Pipit. Meadow Pipit. Skylark. Yellowhammer. To this list Dr. Baldamus, from other sources, has added the following: Red-backed Shrike. Barred Warbler. Nightingale. Icterine Warbler. Chiff-chaff. Great Reed Warbler. Sedge Warbler. Fire-crested Wren. Tree Pipit. Crested Lark. Wood Lark. Common Bunting. Black-headed Bunting. Greenfinch. Linnet. Russet Wheatear. And lastly, in a foot-note to Mr. Dawson Rowley’s article on the Cuckoo, House Sparrow. Blue-throated Warbler. Rock Pipit. Chaffinch. Blackbird. Grasshopper Warbler. Great Titmouse. Red-throated Pipit. Mealy Redpoll. Bullfinch. Jay. Song Thrush. Magpie. Turtle Dove. Wood Pigeon. He confirms, moreover, Mr. Rowley’s remark that the Cuckoo’s egg is occasionally found in the nest of the Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla). I have still to name four species which are not included in any of the above lists, viz., the Spotted Flycatcher, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, and Wheatear. They were noticed by me some years ago in the first work I ever published. Considering the amount of attention which has been bestowed upon the Cuckoo by naturalists in every age down to the present, one would suppose that every fact in connection with its life-history was now pretty generally known. Such, however, is not the case. There are still certain points which require investigation, and which, owing chiefly to the vagrant habits of the bird, are not easily determined. How can it be ascertained with certainty, for example, whether the same hen Cuckoo always lays eggs of the same colour, or whether (admitting this to be the case) she invariably lays in the nest of the same species—that is, in the nest of that species whose eggs most nearly approximate in colour to her own? And yet we must be satisfied on these points if we are to accept the ingenious theory of Dr. Baldamus. If we understand the learned To enter fully upon the details of this interesting subject would require more space than can here be accorded; one can only glance therefore at the general opinions which have been expressed in connection with it. If the theory of Dr. Baldamus be correct, is it possible to give a reasonable and satisfactory explanation of it? This question has been answered by Professor Newton in the article to which we have just referred. He says:—“Without attributing any wonderful sagacity to the Cuckoo, it does seem likely that the bird which once successfully deposited her eggs in a Reed Wren’s or a Titlark’s nest, should again seek for another Reed Wren’s, or a Titlark’s nest (as the case may be) when she had an egg to dispose of, and that she should continue her practice from one season to another. We know that year after year the same migratory bird will This would be an excellent argument in support of the theory, were it not for one expression, upon which the whole value of the argument seems to me to depend. What is meant by the expression “once successfully deposited”? Does the Cuckoo ever revisit a nest in which she has placed an egg, and satisfy herself that her offspring is hatched and cared for? If not (and I believe such an event is not usual, if indeed it has ever been known to occur), then nothing has been gained by the selection of a Reed Wren’s or Titlark’s nest (as the case may While admitting therefore the tendency which certain habits have to become hereditary in certain animals, I feel compelled to reject the application of this principle in the case of the Cuckoo, on the ground that it can only hold good where the habit results in an advantage to the species, and in the present instance we have no proof either that there is an advantage, or, if there is, that the Cuckoo is sensible of it. Touching the question of similarity between eggs laid by the same bird, Professor Newton says:—“I am in a position to maintain positively that there is a family likeness between the eggs laid by the same bird” (not a Cuckoo) “even at an interval of many years,” and he instances cases of certain Golden Eagles which came under his own observation. But do we not as frequently meet with instances in which eggs laid by the same bird are totally different in appearance? Take the case of a bird which lays four or five eggs in its own nest before it Looking to the many instances in which eggs laid by the same bird, in the same nest, and under the same circumstances, vary inter se, it is not reasonable to suppose that eggs of the same Cuckoo deposited in different nests, under different circumstances, and, presumably, different conditions of the ovary, would resemble each other. On the contrary, there is reason to expect they would be dissimilar. Further, I can confirm the statement of Mr. Dawson Rowley, who says: It is undeniable that strong impressions upon the sense of sight, affecting the parent during conception or an early stage of pregnancy, may and do influence the formation of the embryo, and it has consequently been asserted that the sight of the eggs lying in the nest has such an influence on the hen Cuckoo, that her egg, which is ready to be laid, assumes the colour and markings of those before her. This is not, however, supported by facts, for the egg of a Cuckoo is frequently found with eggs which do not in the least resemble it (e.g. those of the Hedge-Sparrow); or with eggs which, from the nature of the nest, could not have been seen by the Cuckoo (as in the case of the Redstart, Wren, or Willow Wren); or deposited in a nest before a single egg had been laid therein by the rightful owner. Again, two Cuckoo’s eggs of a different colour have been found in the same nest. If both were laid by one bird, we have a proof that the same Cuckoo does not always lay eggs of the same colour; if laid by different birds, then the Cuckoo is not so impressionable as has been supposed. What really takes place, I believe, is this:—The The manner in which “the cuckowe’s bird useth the sparrow,” “oppressing his nest,” living upon him, and finally turning him adrift, has furnished a theme for poets and prose writers in all ages, and has awakened in no small degree the speculative powers of naturalists. The story is as old as the hills, and it would probably be difficult, if not impossible, to trace “Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk That even our love durst not come near his sight For fear of swallowing.”—Henry IV. act v. sc. 1. But though so time-worn is the tale as to be very generally believed, it is singular how few writers have attempted to show a foundation for it from their own observations. So scattered, indeed, is the evidence on the subject, that many naturalists of the present day still hesitate to believe the story, pronouncing the alleged feat of strength on the part of the young Cuckoo to be “a physical impossibility.” Although my present purpose is to direct attention to the latest observations upon this vexed question which have come to us with Dr. Jenner says positively (“Phil. Trans.,” vol. lxxviii. p. 225):—“I discovered the young Cuckoo, though so newly hatched, in the act of turning out the young Hedge-Sparrow. The little animal, with the assistance of its rump and wings, contrived to get the bird upon its back, and making a lodgement for its burden by elevating its elbows, clambered backwards with it up the side of the nest till it reached the top, where, resting for a moment, it threw off its load with a jerk, and quite disengaged it from the nest. It remained in the situation for a short time, feeling about with the extremities of its wings, as if to be convinced whether the business was properly executed, and then dropped into the nest again.” Montagu, in the Introduction to his “Ornithological Dictionary,” states that he took home a young Cuckoo five or six days old, when, to use his own words: “I frequently saw it throw out a young Swallow (which was put in for the purpose Mr. Blackwall, who published some observations on this point in the fourth volume of the “Manchester Memoirs” (second series), says that a nestling Cuckoo, while in his possession, turned both young birds and eggs out of its nest, in which he had placed them for the purpose. He further observed “that this bird, though so young, threw itself backwards with considerable force when anything touched it unexpectedly,” an observation subsequently confirmed by Mr. Durham Weir in a letter to Macgillivray. Mr. Weir says a young Cuckoo was hatched with three young Titlarks on the 6th June. “On the afternoon of the 10th two of the Titlarks were found lying dead at the bottom of the ditch; the other one had disappeared.” Subsequently this Cuckoo was removed, and placed in another Titlark’s nest, nearer home, for more convenient observation. On the following day Mr. Weir found it covered by the old Titlark “with outstretched wings from a very heavy shower of rain * * * while her own young ones had in the meantime been expelled by the Cuckoo, and were lying lifeless within two inches of her nest.” Another instance is given wherein two Cuckoos were hatched in a Titlark’s nest. “On the third or fourth day after this the young Titlarks were found lying dead on the ground, and the Cuckoos were in possession of the nest.” Ultimately one of the latter, the weaker of the two, disappeared. A German naturalist, Adolf MÜller, of Gladenbach, writing in a German periodical, “Der Zoologische Garten,” in October, 1868, has Two young Cuckoos, five or six days old, were found in a Robin’s nest, four Robin’s eggs lying on the heath before the nest. The two birds were extremely restless, striving to push each other out of the nest, the smaller one always the more active. Herr MÜller placed the smaller on the back of the larger one, which immediately began to heave it upwards, and, thrusting its claws into the moss and texture of the nest, actually succeeded in pushing it to the edge of the nest and about four inches further amongst the heath stems. After every contest which was observed both birds contrived to creep back again into the nest. Ultimately the larger one was found lying dead outside the nest, while the Robin was sitting on the smaller bird and the eggs, which had been replaced. The latest contribution on the subject is that of Mr. Gould, who in his splendid folio work on “The Birds of Great Britain,” expressed himself a disbeliever in the popular story. He has since found reason to change his opinion, for in his recently published octavo “Introduction” to that work he says: “I now find that the opinion ventured in my account of this species as to the impossibility of the young Cuckoo ejecting the young of its foster parents at the early age of three or four days is erroneous; for a lady of undoubted veracity and considerable ability as an observer of nature, and as an artist, has actually seen the act performed [he seems to overlook the circumstance that others had previously seen it], and has illustrated her statement of the fact by a sketch taken at the time, a tracing of which has been kindly sent to me.” This tracing he has reproduced as an engraving in the “Introduction” referred to, and as he has been good enough to allow me the use of the wood block to illustrate the present remarks, the reader may consider himself in The following is the account given by Mrs. Blackburn (the lady referred to) of the circumstance as it came under her observation: “The nest which we watched last June, after finding the Cuckoo’s egg in it, was that of the Common Meadow Pipit (Titlark, or Moss-Cheeper), and had two Pipit’s eggs, besides that of the Cuckoo. “It was below a heather bush, on the declivity of a low abrupt bank, on a Highland hill-side, in Moidart. At one visit the Pipits were found to be hatched, but not the Cuckoo. Cuckoo in nest “At the next visit, which was after an interval of forty-eight hours, we found the young Cuckoo alone in the nest, and both the young Pipits lying down the bank, about ten inches from the margin of the nest, but quite lively after being warmed in the hand. They were replaced in the nest beside the Cuckoo, which struggled about till it got its back under one of them, when it climbed backwards directly up the open side of the nest, and hitched the Pipit from its back on to the edge. It then stood quite upright on its legs, which were straddled wide apart, with the claws firmly fixed half-way down the inside of the nest among the interlacing fibres of which the nest was woven; and, stretching its wings apart and backwards, it elbowed the Pipit fairly over the margin so far “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 of 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 of them, but the Cuckoo made no effort to get under and eject it, but settled itself contentedly on the top of it. All this I find accords accurately with Jenner’s description of what he saw. But what struck me most was this: The Cuckoo was perfectly naked, without a vestige of a feather, or even a hint of future feathers; its eyes were not yet opened, and its neck seemed too weak to support the weight of 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 Notwithstanding the objections put forward by sceptics, it is impossible, after reading the evidence of the above-named independent observers, to doubt that the young Cuckoo is capable of doing all that has been attributed to it in the way of ejectment. But it is still very desirable that some competent anatomist should examine and report upon the arrangement and development of the nerves and muscles, which must differ very considerably from those which are to be found at the same age in the young of other insessorial birds. WRYNECK
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