FOR CAGES AND A VI ARIES. 31 



and with judicious management ; but it seldom survives 

 a second winter in captivity, and as it is of great use 

 as a destroyer of may-bugs and other pernicious insects, 

 it seems a pity to interfere with it. 



Every one is acquainted with its peculiar habit of laying 

 its eggs among those of other birds, the old Cuckoo 

 seldom making a mistake in the selection of a nurse for 

 her offspring; the Yellow-hammer, the Hedge Sparrow, the 

 Pipits and the Wagtails, being those usually selected, 

 though young Cuckoos have been found in the nests of 

 Wrens, Chiff-chaffs and even, it is said, in that of one of 

 the Finches, which so far departed from the habits of 

 their race as to feed their foster-child with caterpillars! 

 But such tales lack confirmation, and should be received 

 with caution, being on a par with the well-known fable of 

 his nephew's invention, related to the Royal Society by the 

 elder Jenner, of the murderous habits and extraordinary 

 instinct of the little blind and naked Cuckoo directly on 

 its emerging from the shell: a tale, by the way, that 

 seems to be but slowly dying in spite of the ample, if 

 tardy, confession of the practical joker himself. 



The Cuckoo is about the size of a Barbary Dove, and 

 has very short legs, with zygodactylous toes. The head, 

 neck, and upper surface of the body are dark ashen-grey, 

 with iridescent hues on the back and wing-coverts ; the 

 lower parts are grey with darker spots. The female is 

 smaller than her mate, and greyer in colour, with 

 transverse spots on the lower surface. 



The Cuckoo is a bird of passage, arriving in April 

 and departing about the end of August, before which 

 time its peculiar cry has ceased. Although it will eat 

 some fruit, the bulk of its diet consists of insects. It is 

 very impatient of cold. 



THE CUCKOO'S MATE. See Wryneck. 



