THE CUCKOO. 



151 



He is the lowest of his tribe as regards his ch'mbing powers. Nor does 

 he use his bill in the least, like the parrot, for helping himself to climb or for 

 clinging ; nor, like the woodpecker, for digging into the bark of trees. Yet, 

 after his fashion, he can climb about on the trees, though he cannot mount up 



THE JAY CUCKOO. 



the stem. The cuckoo is, in fact, half a climber and half a percher, and 

 it seems rather foolish to have put him among the climbers at all. 



His bill is of a moderate length, and a little curved at the end. His 

 wings are short and his flight is feeble. Nor does he, in his native woods, 



