1 68 



Singular Birds. 



the neighboring tribes that Honey Dew 

 loved peace above all things; and through 

 her influence her kingdom became re- 

 nowned for its wisdom and wealth, her 

 treasure houses containing such riches as 



were never dreamed of by neighboring 

 sovereigns. 



And so she lived and reigned through 

 many happy years, the greatest and most 

 beloved queen in all the Land of Summer. 



Henrietta Christian Wright. 



SINGULAR BIRDS. 



T 



HE true cuckoos are celebrated for 

 the singular habit of depositing their 

 eggs in the nests of insectivorous as well as 

 granivorous birds, and what is not less ex- 

 traordinary, the foster parents, often of 

 species much inferior in size, bestow as 

 much care on the young cuckoo as upon 

 their own proper nestlings, although the 

 deposition of the strange &^g is generally 

 succeeded by the destruction of whatever 

 others may have been in the nest. If other 

 eggs be subsequently laid, and hatched with 

 the young cuckoo, the latter ejects its help- 

 less companions by insinuating itself under 

 them, and then by a jerk casting them suc- 

 cessively over the rim of the nest. This it 

 does when about eight days old. 



The cause of this unusual phenomenon is 

 yet unknown, but appears to be immediately 

 connected with the structure of the repro- 

 ductive organs, and to be necessitated by 

 the fact that the female cuckoo lays only 

 at intervals of several days, and laying five 

 or six eggs could not well incubate her own. 

 Certain it is, that although a great propor- 

 tion of the young cuckoos are not hatched 

 till after their parents have migrated south- 

 ward, the female has been often seen to 

 loiter about in the vicinity of her offspring, 

 which she has been known to entice away 

 when it took flight. Herissant attributed 

 the phenomenon to the position of the giz- 

 zard, which in fact is placed further back- 

 ward in the abdomen, and is less protected 

 by the sternum, than that of birds in general, 

 as is also the case with the moth-hunters, 

 which the cuckoos closely resemble in their 



internal structure. Their young are very 

 slow in learning to take their own food, and 

 are fed by their foster parents till their feath- 

 ers have nearly attained their full growth. 



Africa, and the islands of the Indian 

 Ocean, produce several small species of 

 cuckoo, the plumage of which is more or 

 less gilded, brilliant emerald-green, bronzed, 

 or purple. A crested, spotted species is 

 occasionally found in southern Europe, the 

 cry of which is very sonorous. 



The colics are birds of Africa and India, 

 which climb somewhat in the manner of 

 parrots, live in troops, and even breed in 

 society, constructing numerous nests in the 

 same bushes. They sleep suspended on a 

 branch with the head downward, many of 

 them together, and subsist on fruits, buds 

 of trees, and tender sprouts of vegetables. 



These very curious birds are closely allied 

 by affinity to the plantain-eaters and tour- 

 acos. They sail from bush to bush in a 

 long row one after another, alighting al- 

 ways near the ground, and clambering to 

 the topmost twigs with the assistance of the 

 beak and long stiff tail, picking off the 

 buds or berries, and do not pass to the next 

 until the whole flock are ready, when they 

 again sail in the same regular succession. 

 They are very mischievous in gardens in 

 the Cape Colony, devouring the young 

 plants of vegetables as fast as they spring 

 up, and are there known by the term huys- 

 vogel, or house-bird. Their cry is monoton- 

 ous (having but one pair of vocal muscles), 

 and in the largest species closely resembles 

 the bleating of a lamb. G. B. G. 



