486 THE CUCKOO 



themselves the favourite food of their species, hairy caterpillars, for 

 these were scarcely to be found. 1 As the species finds its food 

 largely in tall trees, the diet of individuals must again vary somewhat 

 with the kind of tree they haunt. 



The full dietary of the cuckoo is given in the " Classified Notes." 

 The most interesting item in it are the hairy caterpillars above 

 referred to. These are refused by the vast majority of birds, among 

 the exceptions being the mistle-thrush. 2 The bird swallows the 

 caterpillar, hairs and all. The hairs remain in the gizzard, when 

 the digestible portions have been absorbed, and are there found 

 either adhering to the surface of the gizzard so as to give it the 

 appearance of being coated with fur, or else collected into a ball, 

 ready no doubt for ejection. How long the hairs remain in the 

 gizzard, and how they are detached previous to ejection, has not been 

 ascertained. That they must sooner or later be ejected is obvious. 

 If proof were needed, it is supplied by the fact that birds dissected on 

 their arrival have the gizzard quite free from hairs. 



Balls of hair are occasionally found in the stomachs of young 

 cuckoos. Those found by Jenner were "curiously wound up," and 

 were composed chiefly of horsehair. Owing to the presence of the 

 same in the lining of nests, he inferred that the cuckoo had swallowed 

 them while a nestling. 3 



The cuckoo occasionally picks its food off the ground, descending 

 for that purpose, making a few ungainly hops, and then flying back 

 into the tree. It will often cling to the trunk in order to pick off an 

 insect, but, according to Naumann, always across it, and not vertically 

 like the woodpeckers. Gilbert White relates that in July he saw 

 " several cuckoos skimming over a large pond ; and found, after some 

 observation, that they were feeding on the Libellulce, or dragon-flies, 

 some of which they caught as they settled on the weeds, and some as 

 they were on the wing." 4 The fact that this incident was witnessed 



1 Vogelwelt der Nordseeinsel-Borkum, 1809, 84. * E. L. Turner (in litt.). 



3 Op. tit., pp. 235-30. 4 Letter to Barrington, October 8, 1770. 



