"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.Prevost 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.

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