72 THE CUCKOO 



bill, nostrils partly hidden by a membrane, pointed wings, tail 

 rounded, and its feathers soft and downy, tarsi scaled and partly 

 covered with feathers, and two front toes united at their base. It 

 derives its familiar designation of wryneck from its habit of twisting 

 its head in a curious manner. It appears with or just before the 

 cuckoo, arriving in Britain in April, and hence popularly named the 

 " Cuckoo's Mate." The colour is a mixture of shades of brown and 

 grey, and the average length is 7 in., the female being slightly 

 smaller. It is tolerably common in the southern counties of Eng- 

 land, but is very seldom, if ever, seen in the north and west. >The 

 nest is formed in the holes of trees ; the eggs, six to ten, laid on the 

 bare wood, are pure white. The tongue is long, like that of the 

 woodpeckers, and the food consists of insects, chiefly ants, and 

 pests infesting stems and branches of trees. It departs from Britain 

 in August or September. 



The CUCKOO (Cuculus canorus), Fig. 47, belongs to the family 

 Cuculidse (Cuckoo kind) and sub-family Cuculinae. It is characterized 





FIG. 47. THE CUCKOO AND GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR. 



by a bill of moderate size, short tarsi, and tail composed of ten 

 feathers, bill compressed and slightly arched. The plumage is not 

 attractive, the colour being shades of slatey-grey and brown with 

 darker markings, white spots on the tail feathers, the under-parts 

 whitish with brown markings. It arrives in this country during the 

 last fortnight of April, and the male arriving first pours forth from 

 a bare bough its monotonous song cuckoo ! 



The Cuckoo is especially distinguished by the habit of the female 

 in placing her eggs solitary in the nests of birds, always much smaller 



