92 



British Birds. 



THE CUCKOOS. 

 Sub-Order CVCULI. 



THE 



COMMON CUCKOO 



{Cucttlns iiuionis.) 



for its accommodation, while I have known a \Vr3'neck to sit in the lower boughs 

 of a poplar tree in m\' garden and answer the children imitating its call for a 

 quarter of an hour together. The note is very peculiar and sounds like the 

 sj'llables ' pee-tee-pec ' often reiterated. 



Like the preceeding birds, the Cuckoos have a zygodactyle 

 or scansorial foot, with the toes arranged two in front and 

 two behind, but the disposition of the tendons is different 

 and resembles that of the Game-birds. They ha\e only ten tail feathers. 



The Cuckoos are the only European representatives of the Order Cocc rg'es. which 

 contains a large number of Cuckoo-like birds, as well as the Plantain-eaters 

 [Miisopltagi) of Africa. 



In a little sketch of the Birds of Great Britain, such as this 

 book alone pretends to be, there is not space to enteral length 

 into the history of a species like the Cuckoo, the study of which 

 is among the most interesting problems of Bird life. In appearance 

 the Cuckoo is very like a Sparrow-Hawk, and it has a similar flight, so that when it 

 appears in the open, the small birds mob both the Cuckoo and the Hawk in the same 

 manner, whether from hatred towards the former on account of its parasitic habits, or 

 from fear of the latter as a natural enemy, it is hard to decide. Independentl}- of the 

 grey colour of the upper surface and the barred under parts which complete the resem- 

 blancebetween theCuckooand the Sparrow-Hawk, there isyet anotherpeculiarfeaturein 

 common between the two, \-iz. : the lengthened thigh-feathers which are found in both, 

 and render the Cuckoo still more remarkably like the Sparrow-Hawk in appearance. 

 The female Cuckoo resembles the male, but is a little smaller, and has generally 

 some rufous on the chest, and this colour is ver\- conspicuous in life, and generalh' 

 serves to distinguish the hen bird when flying. There is also a curious rufous phase 

 of plumage, called the ' hepatic phase,' which occurs m both se.xes, but is more 



commonly met with on the 

 Continent than in the British 

 Islands. The young birds 

 are quite different from the 

 adults, being dark brown or 

 blackish, mottlctl w ith rufous 

 and white, and with a dis- 

 tinct white spot at the hack 

 of the neck. The tail shows 

 rufous bars and the under 

 surface of the bod}- is huffy 

 wliite, barred across with 

 blackish-brown bars. 

 The Common Cuckoo. As is well known, the 



-^'ft 



