cue 



foot, 5,406 inches; and the cubit of 

 the Scripture equal to 1 foot, 9,888 

 inches. 



CUCKOW. See CUCCLUS. 

 COCKOW gpit. See CICADA. 

 CUCUBALUS, in botany, a genus of 

 the Decandria Trigynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Caryophyllei. Essential 

 character : calyx inflated ; petals five, 

 having claws* "but no crown ; capsule 

 three-celled. There are seventeen spe- 

 cies. 



CUCU.TUS, in natural history, a genus 

 of the Coleoptera order of insects: an- 

 tennz filiform ; four feelers equal, the 

 last joined truncate and thicker; lip short 

 bifid, the divisions linear and distant ; 

 body depressed. There are about thir- 

 teen species. 



CUCULL.ERIA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Monandria Monogynia class and or- 

 der. Calyx four-parted ; corolla four- 

 petalled, unequal spurred; filaments 

 petal-like ; anthers with distinct cells. 

 One species, found in the woods of 

 Guiana. 



CUCULLANUS, in natural history, a 

 genus of the Vermes Intestina. Body 

 sharp, pointed behind and obtuse before ; 

 mouth orbicular, with a striate hood. 

 Most of this genus are viviparous, and 

 generally intestinal. There are four sec- 

 tions : A, infesting the mammalia ; B, in- 

 festing birds ; C, infesting reptiles ; and 

 D, infesting fish. There are seven spe- 

 cies, besides varieties. 



CUCULUS, the Cuckow, in natural his- 

 tory, a genus of birds, of the order Pi- 

 cx. Generic character : bill smooth, 

 somewhat bending and weak ; nostrils 

 surrounded by a small rim ; tongue short 

 and arrowed ; toes two forward and two 

 backward; tail wedge-formed often soft 

 feathers. Gmelin enumerates fifty-five 

 species, and Latham forty-six. The fol- 

 lowing are most deserving of notice : C. 

 Canorus, the Common Cuckow of Europe* 

 This bird is about fourteen inches long. 

 It is found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

 Its food consists of insects and the larvae 

 of 'moths, but when domesticated, which 

 it may be without much difficulty, it will 

 eat bread, fruits, eggs, and even flesh. 

 When fattened it is said to be excellent 

 for the table. It is in Great Britain a bird 

 of passage, appearing first about the mid- 

 dle of April, and cheering the vicinity of 

 its habitation with that well-known note 

 with which so many exquisite ideas and 

 feelings are associated. This note is 

 used only by the male bird, and is the in- 



cuc 



timation of love. It has, very rarely only, 

 been heard, like the song of the nightin- 

 gale, in the middle of the night. About 

 the close of June this note ceases, but the 

 cuckow remains in England till towards 

 the end of September. It is imagined 

 sometimes to continue in the country for 

 the whole of the year, as it has occasion- 

 ally been seen there so early as February. 

 Cuckows are supposed to winter in Afri- 

 ca, as they are seen twice a year in the 

 island of Malta. 



With the history of these birds have 

 been blended much fable and supersti- 

 tion; their manners, however, are un- 

 questionably in a high degree curious, 

 and fable, in this as in many other cases, 

 is in a great degree connected with fact. 

 It is almost universally agreed by natu- 

 ralists, that the cuckow does not hatch its 

 own eggs, but deposits them in the nest 

 of some other bird. BufFon mentions 

 the names of twenty birds, or more, on 

 whom the cuckow passes this fraud. 

 Those most frequently duped by it, how- 

 ever, in this manner, are the yellow ham- 

 mer, the water-wagtail, and the hedge- 

 sparrow, and of these three, by far more 

 than the other two, the hedge-sparrow. 

 The most minute and attentive examiner 

 into this extraordinary peculiarity is Mr. 

 Edward Jenner, from whose observations 

 on this interesting subject we shall select 

 a few of the most important. He states, 

 that the hedge-sparrow is generally four 

 or five days in completing her number 

 of eggs, during which time the cuckow 

 finds an opportunity of introducing tQ 

 the nest one of its own, leaving the future 

 management of it to the hedge-sparrow ; 

 and though it frequently occurs that the 

 latter is much discomposed by this in- 

 trusion, and several of the eggs are in- 

 jured by her and obliged to be removed 

 from the nest, he states that the egg of 

 the cuckow is never of this number. 

 When the usual time of incubation is 

 completed, and the young- sparrows and 

 cuckow are disengaged from the eggs, 

 the former are ejected from the nest, 

 and the stranger obtains exclusive pos-_ 

 session. A nest, built in a situation ex- 

 tremely convenient for minute observa- 

 tion, fell under the particular examina- 

 tion of this gentleman, and was found on 

 the first day to contain a cuckow's and 

 three hedge-sparrow's eggs. On the day 

 following he, observed a young cuckow 

 and a young hedge-sparrow, and as he 

 could distinctly perceive every thing 

 passing, he was resolved to watch the 



