CUCULID^. 



Gray of the British Museum ; who, from observations 

 made by himself, states that the Cuckoo does not uniformly 

 desert her offspring to the extent that has been supposed ; 

 but, on the contrary, that she continues in the precincts 

 where the eggs are deposited, and in all probability some- 

 times takes the young under her protection when they are 

 sufficiently fledged to leave the nest. 



The Cuckoo is commonly distributed every summer over 

 England, Ireland, and Scotland ; it also visits Orkney. 

 It is found in Denmark and Sweden, and over Scandi- 

 navia generally. Mr. Barrow, when in the northern part 

 of Norway, heard the Cuckoo near Roraas, at an elevation 

 of three thousand feet above the level of the sea ; and 

 Linneus, in the account of his Tour in Lapland, mentions 

 having heard the Cuckoo there as early as the 13th of 

 May, and as late as the 10th of July. This bird is found 

 in Russia, in Siberia, and over great part of Asia. The 

 Zoological Society have received specimens from the 

 Himalaya Mountains, which are precisely similar to our 

 British bird, and quite distinct from the Cuculus micro- 

 pterus of Mr. Gould from the same locality, which, though 

 very like our bird in size and colour, is at once distin- 

 guished from it by its larger beak, shorter wings, whence 

 its name, and its smaller feet. A collection of birds, 

 formed by Major James Franklin, F.R.S., on the banks 

 of the Ganges, and in the mountain chain of Upper Hin- 

 dostan, exhibited at the Zoological Society in August, 

 1831, includes specimens of which it is stated in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Society for that year, page 121, "This 

 bird, on comparison with the Common Cuckoo, differs so 

 little that it can scarcely be called a variety ; it is the 

 Common Cuckoo of India, and its habits and note resemble 

 those of the European bird." Colonel Sykes also includes 

 it in his Catalogue of the Birds of the Dukhun, but says 



