" (3/8. "Magazine of Zoology and Botany" volume 1 page
217.) It is remarkable that some of the species, but not all, both
of the Cuckoo and Molothrus should agree in this one strange habit
of their parasitical propagation, whilst opposed to each other in
almost every other habit: the molothrus, like our starling, is
eminently sociable, and lives on the open plains without art or
disguise: the cuckoo, as every one knows, is a singularly shy bird;
it frequents the most retired thickets, and feeds on fruit and
caterpillars. In structure also these two genera are widely removed
from each other. Many theories, even phrenological theories, have
been advanced to explain the origin of the cuckoo laying its eggs
in other birds' nests. M. Pr?vost alone, I think, has thrown light
by his observations on this puzzle: he finds that the female
cuckoo, which, according to most observers, lays at least from four
to six eggs, must pair with the male each time after laying only
one or two eggs. (3/9. Read before the Academy of Sciences in
Paris. L'Institut 1834 page 418.) Now, if the cuckoo was obliged to
sit on her own eggs, she would either have to sit on all together,
and therefore leave those first laid so long, that they probably
would become addled; or she would have to hatch separately each egg
or two eggs, as soon as laid: but as the cuckoo stays a shorter
time in this country than any other migratory bird, she certainly
would not have time enough for the successive hatchings.
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