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Many times have I had the curiosity to open the stomachs of woodcocks and snipes; but nothing ever occurred that helped to explain to me what their subsistence might be; all that I could ever find was a soft mucus, among which lay many pellucid small gravels.

LETTER XXX.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Feb. 19, 1770.

DEAR SIR,-Your observation, that "the cuckoo does not deposit its egg indiscriminately in the nest of the first bird that comes in its way, but probably looks out a nurse in some degree congenerous, with whom to entrust its young,"* is perfectly new to me; and struck me so forcibly, that I naturally fell into a train of thought that led me to consider whether the fact were so, and what reason there was for it. When I came to recollect and inquire, I could not find that any cuckoo had ever been seen in these parts, except in the nest of the wagtail, the hedge-sparrow, the titlark, the whitethroat and the red-breast, all soft-billed insectivorous birds. The excellent Mr. Willughby mentions the nest of the palumbus, (ring-dove,) and of the fringilla, (chaffinch,) birds that subsist on acorns and grains, and such hard food; but then he does not mention them as of his own knowledge; but says afterwards, that he saw himself a wagtail feeding a cuckoo. It appears hardly possible that a soft-billed bird

* Providence, or rather the great Creator, who does everything for the best, has so ordained it that the cuckoo only deposits its eggs in those nests in which the young will be fed with the food most congenial with their nature, in fact in those of birds strictly insectivorous. It is a curious fact, and one I believe not hitherto noticed by naturalists, that the cuckoo deposits its egg in the nest of the titlark, robin, wagtail, &c., by means of its foot. If the bird sat on the nest while the egg was laid, the weight of its body would crush the nest, and cause it to be forsaken, and thus one of the ends of Providence would be defeated. I have found the eggs of a cuckoo in the nest of a white-throat, built in so small a hole in a garden wall that it was absolutely impossible for the cuckoo to have got into it.-ED.

should subsist on the same food with the hard-billed; for the former have thin membranaceous stomachs suited to their soft food; while the latter, the granivorous tribe, have strong muscular gizzards, which, like mills, grind, by the help of small gravels and pebbles, what is swallowed. This proceeding of the cuckoo, of dropping its eggs as it were by chance, is such a monstrous outrage on maternal affection, one of the first great dictates of nature, and such a violence on instinct, that had it only been related of a bird in the Brazils or Peru, it would never have merited our belief.* But yet, should it farther appear that this simple bird, when divested of that natural σropy that seems to raise the kind in general above themselves, and inspire them with extraordinary degrees of cunning and address, may be still endued with a more enlarged faculty of discerning what species are suitable and congenerous nursing mothers for its disregarded eggs and young, and may deposit them only under their care, this would be adding wonder to wonder, and instancing, in a fresh manner, that the methods of Providence are not subjected to any mode or rule, but astonish us in new lights, and in various and changeable appearances.

What was said by a very ancient and sublime writer concerning the defect of natural affection in the ostrich, may be well applied to the bird we are talking of:—

"She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers:

"Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding." +

Query. Does each female cuckoo lay but one egg in a season, or does she drop several in different nests, according as opportunity offers ?

* If the cuckoo made a nest as other birds do, and fed and brought up its young in the usual way, would not the harsh note of the male bird lead to the easy discovery of the nest, and thus the breed might be extinguished ?—ED. Job xxxix. 16, 17.

It is now known from the examination of the ovarium, that the cuckoo lays several eggs.—ED.

LETTER XXXI.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, Feb. 22, 1770. DEAR SIR,-Hedge-hogs abound in my gardens and fields. The manner in which they eat the roots of the plantain in my grass walks is very curious: with their upper mandible, which is much longer than their lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat the root off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched. In this respect they are serviceable, as they destroy a very troublesome weed: but they deface the walks in some measure by digging little round holes. It appears, by the dung that they drop upon th turf, that beetles are no inconsiderable part of their food. In June last, I procured a litter of four or five young hedgehogs, which appeared to be about five or six days old; they, I find, like puppies, are born blind, and could not see when they came to my hands.† No doubt their spines are soft and flexible at the time of their birth, or else the poor dam would have but a bad time of it in the critical moment of parturition: but it is plain that they soon harden; for these little pigs had such stiff prickles on their backs and sides, as would easily have fetched blood, had they not been handled with caution. Their spines are quite white at this age; and they have little hanging ears, which I do not remember

*The hedge-hog feeds indiscriminately on flesh and vegetables, is very fond of eggs, doing considerable mischief by destroying game during the breeding season. It will even enter a hen-house, and, when within its reach, will turn off the hens, and devour the eggs. They are frequently caught in traps, baited with eggs, for the carrion crows. They are easily tamed, and become very familiar in a state of confinement; will eat bread, potatoes, fruit, flesh-raw or cooked-without any apparent choice.-W. J. They will soon learn to distinguish the person by whom they are fed, and will uncoil themselves at the sound of his voice.-W. C. T.

The young are frequently detected and killed by keepers. The incessant cry they make for their mother when hungry, leads to their discovery. I am assured that the old hedge-hogs hunt eagerly for cockchafers which have dropped from the oaks in Richmond park.-ED.

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