250 INDEX. 



where it resides in winter, or how provides for its supply 

 during that season, still undiscovered : this bird somewhat 

 less than a pigeon, shaped like a magpie, and of a greyish 

 colour: is distinguished from all others by its round promi- 

 nent nostrils : discovers itself in our country early in the 

 spring, by its well-known call : its note heard earlier or 

 later, as the season is more or less forward, and the weather 

 inviting: from the cheerful voice of this bird, the farmer 

 instructed in the real advancement of the year : history and 

 nature of this bird still in great obscurity : its call an invi- 

 tation to courtship, used only by the male, generally perched 

 upon a dead tree, or bare bough, repeating his song, which 

 he loses when the genial season is over : his note pleasant, 

 though uniform : the female makes no nest : repairs to the 

 nest of some other bird, generally the water-wagtail, or 

 hedge-sparrow, and, after devouring the eggs of the owner, 

 lays hers in their place : usually lays but one : this the little 

 foolish bird hatches with great assiduity, and, when excluded, 

 fondly thinks the great ill-looking changeling her own ; to 

 supply this voracious creature, the credulous nurse toils 

 with unwearied labour, not sensible she is feeding up an 

 enemy to her race : the stomach of this bird is enormous, 

 and reaches from the breast-bone to the vent : its food : 

 naturally weak and fearful : the smaller birds form a train 

 of pursuers: the wry-neck, in particular, the most active in 

 the chase : supposed, in winter, to lie hid in hollow trees, 

 or to pass into warmer climates : story of a cuckoo found 

 in a willow log, in winter: probable opinion concerning 

 its residence in winter : Brisson makes not less than twenty- 

 eight sorts of this bird ; and talks of one of Brasil, as mak- 

 ing a horrible noise in the forests, iv. 209. Dr Jenner's 

 account of, 213. 



Cuckoo-spit, or Froth-worm, its description, vi. 37. 



Cugacu apara, name in Brasil for the roebuck, ii. 339. 



Curlew, a small bird of the crane land : its dimensions : places 

 where found: manner of procuring its food: its habits: 

 its nest, and number of eggs : a bird of passage, iv. 344. 



Currents of rivers well explained by the Italians : to be differ- 

 ently estimated : side current : back current : sometimes the 

 current at bottom swifter than at top, and when : double 

 current, i. 171. Found to run in all directions: manner in 

 which mariners judge of the setting and rapidity of the cur- 

 rent : currents are generally found most violent under the 

 equator : a passage with the current gone in two days, with 

 difficulty performed in six weeks against it: currents do 

 not extend above twenty leagues from the coast : the cur- 

 rents at Sumatra extremely rapid, run from south to north : 

 also strong currents between Madagascar and the Cape of 

 Good Hope ; but the most remarkable are those continually 



