118 CUCULUS CANORUS. 



ants ; yet so generally are these birds seen together on the open 

 moors and pastures, that " the Gowk and the Titling " is a 

 common saying in Scotland. But it is sadly misapplied to a 

 person following and fawning upon his patron, or to two indi- 

 viduals of disproportionate size whose friendship keeps them 

 continually together. The name which the Scots give to the 

 Cuckoo they also aj^ply to a foolish person, no doubt on account 

 of his continued and silly babble. Later in the season, you 

 may see a young Cuckoo followed and fed by Pipits ; but its 

 colours are very different from those of the old bird. Some- 

 times also you may find it surrounded by Swallows and other 

 small birds, which are intent on molesting it to the utmost of 

 their power. 



The flight of the Cuckoo is swift, gliding, even, rapid on 

 occasion, generally sedate, usually at no great height. In the 

 hilly parts it may be seen skimming over the ground, alighting 

 on a stone or crag, balancing itself, throwing up its tail, de- 

 pressing its wings, and then perhaps emitting its notes. In 

 woody districts it glides among the trees, perches on their 

 boushs, and makes occasional excursions into the thickets 

 around. On the ground I have seldom seen it unless when 

 cooing, and there it can scarcely walk with more ease than a 

 Swallow ; but on trees it alights with facility, clings to the 

 twigs with firmness, glides among the foliage, and by the aid 

 of its tenacious grasp and ample tail, throws itself into various 

 and always graceful postures, as it searches for its prey. Its 

 food consists of coleopterous, lepidopterous, and dipterous in- 

 sects, in procuring which it must visit a variety of places, and 

 very much of hairy caterpillars, which it picks from among the . 

 grass and heath, where, however, it cannot search by walking, 

 like the plover or curlew, as its feet are too short, and its toes 

 misplaced for such a purpose. Yet it can hobble round a bush 

 to pick the worms from it, as well as cling to its twigs. " The 

 great quantity devoured by the Cuckoos in a short space of 

 time,'"' says Mr Weir, " is truly astonishing, and would scarcely 

 be believed, except by those wdio have been witnesses to the 

 fact. They have for several years been the means of prevent- 

 ing the gooseberry bushes in my garden from being destroyed." 



