THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1834, 14 January 1887, Page 33

THE NATURALIST.

The Cuckoo au<l its ' Young. J . The- breeding 1 liabirsfbf 'this' ofirioa^'birh, are most interesting^ "As is > known vu o of"i f" ttie h«n bird,it>nevbr^nakes-i Irs1 rs byy4 ne?t,' l>iit it is^'belieVed Uiat' during its'"'s't'a'y J in Europe it lays . altogether übyut eight, egg?, • ail of which' are deposited iirthe^nesr ot' ( some other bird. The* variation' in the coiour of the f.nfkno egg Is Very grejat, from a white speckled egg like that' of the wafer wagtail, or the dark brovvn 'nioftled egg of a, lark or, pipit, to the blue egg of the hedge sparrow,: vrJiile Mr; Dresser states that be hab^seen even green eggs,- and is .of opinion- ,tha,t the sttine female will lay. similarly-coloured-eggs. The researches- of ornithologists . during recent years ,' sufficiently prove that the female cuckoo lays her egg upon the ground', and then deposits it in the nest of a bird •whose egg" resembles the one she -has just laid; hence it is, probable that a hen cuckoo killed \vith a broken egg in its mo.utji is the rightful owner ,of the latter, and. has not been sucking the eggs of somo PJfchor. bird, ai (he speciesria often supposed to do. The writer has on' many occasions found cuckoos] eggs .'iii the ,nest ,of the water wagtail in Berkshire," the latter bird being frequently selected by the cuckoo as her victim ; and he can affirm that, the eggs were in nil cases similar to those 1 pf the 'wagtail, bnt were a' little larger in size. In due time the young cuckoo' is hatched, the rightful owner of the nest ejected, and for 'weeks the powers of the unhappy foster-parents .are exercised to the utmost in feeding the gaping and con-, Btantly-complaining occupant of their domain. Even when the young cuckoo has outgrown the nest, and is .strong. enough to I ily about, he is still attended by his fosterparents; and so strong is the instinct of the joung cuckoo to receive food from the other birds, that a story is told of a specimen in the Zoological Gardens whi<;h managed to live through the winter, and put on.his hill plumage in the following spring, when, on the appearance of a hedge sparrow in the , same aviary, the cuckoo fluttered down, and j with drooping wings and open bill solicited j food from his, small companion. — Cassell's j Natural History.