CUCULIDS. 269 
The food of the Cuckoo consists almost entirely of 
insects, all sorts of which, as well as caterpillars, are 
eaten by it; amongst caterpillars, however, it appears 
to prefer the rough hairy ones. Young Cuckoos 
adapt themselves with considerable ease to the 
natural food of the bird in whose nest they find 
themselves, their digestion being equal to any 
variety: when hatched, therefore, by insect-eating 
birds the young Cuckoo is fed on flies, beetles, cater- 
pillars, grasshoppers and small snails, but when fed 
by any of the Finches or Buntings they do not ap- 
pear to reject young wheat, small vetches, tender 
sprouts of grass and seeds;* but as most of these 
birds feed their young, partially at all events, with 
insects, the young Cuckoos get some of their proper 
food: under any circumstances it is a yoracious 
feeder. 
Cuckoos have often been kept tame, having been 
taken when young and fed upon raw meat and other 
things, but they do not appear to thrive properly 
without caterpillars and insects. 
The Cuckoo is not a very gay bird in plumage: it 
may, at a distance, both from its appearance and 
from the manner of flight, be mistaken for a hawk; 
indeed ‘the small birds themselves appear to 
make this mistake, as they may occasionally 
* Yarrell, vol. ii., p. 199. 
2A3 
