90 BIRDS. SCANSORES. Cuculus. 



120. A. Ispicla. Common King's-fisher. — Under and be- 

 hind the eye a brown band ending at the side of the nape in 

 white. 



Ispida, Will. Ova. 101. Sibb. Scott. 16 — A. Isp. Linn. Syst i. 179. 



Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 24G. Temm. Om. i. 423 W, Glas y dorian 



Not common. 



Length 7, breadth 11 inches; weight 1^ ounce. Bill blackish-brown; 

 tongue short, broad and pointed ; mouth orange. Plumage, above, bluish- 

 green, marked on the head and shoulders with azure blue, the last colour 

 uniform on the back and rump. Chin white, beneath orange-brown. Quills 

 23, the third the longest. Tail short, of 1 2 feathers. Female more tinged 

 with green. — Nest in holes in clay banks, of pellets of ejected fish-bones. 



Eggs C, transparent pink-white. Food consisting of small fishes This bird 



frequents clear gravelly rivers, edged with wiUows and alders. 



As a straggler, the following species merits a place. 



Merops Apiaster. Bee-eater. — An individual was shot at jMattishaU in 

 Norlblk, a notice of which was communicated to the Linnean Society, 2d 

 July 1794, by the Rev. George Smith: " A flight of about twenty was seen 

 in June, and the same flight, probably (much diminished in numbers), was 

 observed passing over tlie same spot m October following." Linn. Trans. 111. 

 333. Sowerby's Brit. Misc. Tab. Ixix. 



SCANSOKES. 



L Gape wide ; tongue short. 

 Cuculus. 



II. Gape narrow ; tongue long. 

 Picus. 

 Yunx. 



Gen. LV. CUCULUS. Cuckoo.— Bill slightly arched. Nos- 

 trils round, margined by a naked prominent membrane. 



121. C. canorus. Common Cuckoo. — Back, breast, neck, 

 and head deep bluish-grey ; belly, thighs, and under tail-co- 

 vers white, with transverse black bars. 



Will. Orn. 62. Sibb. Scott. 15. Linn. Syst. i. 168. Penn. Brit. ZodL L 

 232. Temm. Orn. i. 381.— A', Gowk ; W, Cog; G, Cuthag, Cuach — 

 A summer visitant. 

 Length 14, breadth 25 inches; weight 5 ounces. Bill blackish-brown, 

 yellowish at the base ; inside of the mouth orange-red. Irides and feet 3-ellow. 

 Nostrils round, open and prominent. Plumage deep bluish-grey, the beUy white 

 with transverse black bars. Inner webs of the quill-feathers with oval white 

 spots. Tail of 10 feathers, of unequal length, the two middle ones black, tip- 

 ped with white; the others, black with white spots. Female like the male — Nest 

 seldom constructed by the cuckoo itself, the eggs being generally dropped, se- 

 parately, into the nests of the hedge-sparrow, wagtail, titlark, yellow-ham- 

 mer, greenfinch, or whinchat, in the temporary absence of their owners. In 

 some cases, however, it appears that the cuckoo constructs its own nest. 

 Thus, in a manuscript of Derham's on Instinct, communicated -by Pennant 



