Chapter XX.

1. The cuckoo, as it has been already observed, makes no nest, but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, especially in that of the phaps, and in those of the sparrow and lark on the ground, and in the nest of the chloris in trees. It lays one egg, upon which it does not sit, but the bird in whose nest it lays both hatches the egg and nurses the young bird; and, as they say, when the young cuckoo grows, it ejects the other young birds, which thus perish.

2. Others say that the mother bird kills them, and feeds the young cuckoo with them; for the beauty of the young cuckoo makes her despise her own offspring. People assert that they have been eye-witnesses of most of these circumstances, but all are not equally agreed as to the mode in which the other young birds perish. Some persons say that the old cuckoo comes and devours the young of the other bird. Others say that the great size of the young cuckoo enables it to seize upon the food which is brought to the nest, so that the rest perish from starvation. Others say that the cuckoo, being the stronger bird, kills those that are brought up with it.

3. The cuckoo appears to act prudently in thus depositing her egg; for it is conscious of its own timidity, and that it cannot defend its young, and therefore places them under the protection of another bird, in order that they may be preserved; for this bird is very cowardly, and when it is pecked by even small birds, it flies away from them.