184 CUCULID.E. 



nine or ten days, remove a nestling that had been placed 

 in the nest with it, when it suffered an egg, put there at 

 the same time, to remain unmolested. The singularity of 

 its shape is well adapted to these purposes ; for, different 

 from other newly hatched birds, its back from the shoulders 

 downwards is very broad, with a considerable depression in 

 the middle. This depression seems formed by nature for the 

 design of giving a more secure lodgement to an egg, or a 

 young bird, when the young Cuckoo is employed in removing 

 either of them from the nest. When it is about twelve days 

 old, this cavity is quite filled up, and then the back assumes 

 the shape of nestling birds in general.'" The substances 

 found in the stomach of young Cuckoos are various, depend- 

 ing upon the species of bird by which they are fed. They 

 consist of flies, beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and small 

 snails. When fed by any of the Finches, which are rather 

 vegetable feeders, they are supplied with young wheat, small 

 vetches, tender shoots of grass, and seeds. Adult Cuckoos 

 seem most partial to hairy caterpillars. The young are fre- 

 quently found in a nest in a hedge-row by their almost in- 

 cessant querulous note, which appears to be a call for food ; 

 and they are voracious feeders. The young are sometimes, 

 by great care, kept alive in confinement over their first win- 

 ter, but seldom survive long afterwards. The best food for 

 them is raw beef chopped small, and mixed with yelk of egg. 

 " To what cause then," says Dr. Jenner, " may we attribute 

 the singularities of the Cuckoo ? May they not be owing to 

 the following circumstances ? The short residence this bird 

 is allowed to make in the country where it is destined to pro- 

 pagate its species, and the call that nature has upon it, 

 during that short residence, to produce a numerous progeny. 

 The Cuckoo'^s first appearance here is about the middle of 

 April, commonly on the 17th. Its egg is not ready for 

 incubation till some weeks after its arrival, seldom before the 



