268 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



WOW. wow., may not be solely feminine. Bowing forward, with 

 swelled throat, head lowered, wings drooped and fanned tail 

 elevated, the male Cuckoo shouts from his perch, but almost 

 as frequently he calls as he flies. The so-called change of 

 tune, when the note is triplicated, is not heard in June alone ; 

 during courtship it is common. 



The greedy Cuckoo is a useful bird ; it devours many larvse 

 which other species reject. The irritating hairs of the larv^ of 

 ermine, tiger, drinker or gold-tail moths, which protect these 

 caterpillars from many birds, have no terrors for the Cuckoo ; 

 the hairs stick to the lining of its stomach or are ejected in small 

 pellets or balls, sometimes mixed with vegetable fibre, which 

 Prof. Newstead suggests may be eaten purposely to scour the 

 stomach. The protectively coloured larva of the magpie moth, 

 and that of the gooseberry saw fly, Nematus ribesii., are much 

 sought for ; as many as eight Cuckoos have been seen in one 

 small group of bushes when the sawfly larvae have been 

 defoliating the plants. The stomachs of two birds killed 

 during a plague of these grubs were distended with the larvae. 

 Beetles and other insects, worms and a few seeds are also 

 eaten. The statement that the Cuckoo sucks or eats the eggs 

 of other birds is partly due to misconception, but not without 

 some foundation ; Cuckoos have been shot when carr}'ing their 

 own eggs in their bills, but the frequent reduction of a clutch 

 of the rightful owner when the Cuckoo adds an tg^., points to 

 intentional substitution ; and in the stomach of one Cuckoo 

 out of fifteen examined, Prof. Newstead found fragments of the 

 shell of a Pipit's ^%%. 



The number of eggs laid is uncertain, but it seems probable 

 that each bird lays one or two clutches of five or six, with an 

 interval of several days between each ^%g. Two and even 

 three Cuckoo's eggs have been found in one nest, but these 

 were doubtless placed there by different birds ; each q%% is 

 deposited in a separate nest. As a rule they are laid on the 



