CUCKOO. 



189 



behind. This, however, by the way, although very 

 generally accepted, is by no means a satisfactory 

 division, as it contains a great variety of birds which 

 have otherwise very little or no resemblance : the 

 ( nckoos, the parrots, the woodpeckers, and the 

 toucans, together with several other very dissimilar 

 forms, are here brought together and included in one 

 order, which have hardly a single character in com- 

 mon ; and even the foot, which forms the sole basis 

 of the classification, is extremely different in many of 

 the genera, as a comparison of this organ in the 

 woodpeckers and parrots will abundantly show. It 

 has been commonly designated a climhing foot, but in 

 some of the families it is never used in this manner ; 

 anil, in the birds which we are now about to describe, 

 the chief purpose of this conformation appears to be, 

 to give additional firmness to the grasp, the centre of 

 pressure being, in the cuckoos, exceedingly forward. 



In this genus the bill is somewhat compressed, of 

 moderate length, or about as long as the head, and 

 .slightly curved, the lower mandible following the 

 curve of the upper; the nostrils are basal, round, and 

 margined with a prominent and naked membrane ; 

 the gape of the month is very wide, but the gullet is 

 small, in the common species not large enough to 

 admit the ringer. The wings are of mean length, 

 pointed, having the first quill-feather short, and the 

 third longest ; tail rather long, always more or less 

 wedge-shaped, and strongly fortified by coverts. The 

 tibiae are clothed with long feathers, as in many of the 

 diurnal birds of prey ; the tarsi short and feathered a 

 little below the joint ; the two front toes are joined 

 together at the base, and the two hinder ones entirely 

 divided, the outer hind toe being partly reversible. 

 The character of the plumage is firm, and they carry 

 an immense deal of feather in proportion to their 

 size, and the hues of the more typical species are, in 

 general, rather sombre, mostly ash-colour or dusky 

 on the upper parts and breast, with the under parts 

 lighter and barred across ; in the immature state they 

 incline more to rufous, and are every where transversely 

 barred with a darker colour ; this latter being also the 

 mature plumage of one or two of them. A few small 

 species, however, from the Cape, nearly allied in some 

 respects to the former, have the upper parts of the 

 most brilliant emerald green, these being among the 

 most truly splendid of the feathered race. 



The trite cuckoo to which the typical appellation 

 Citt-i/un is now restricted, are all natives of the eastern 

 cor tinent, but America produces species very closely 

 al'n'd in structure to these, which we shall have 

 o ration to mention as we proceed, but which differ 

 '.oo essentially in their general economy to be included 

 'in the same generic division. One of these, the 

 Coccyzus Crtro/inenxis, having been driven out of its 

 regular line of migration, and winged its way across 

 the wide Atlantic, lias now occurred several times 

 during the autumn months in this country, and has 

 consequently found its way, as an accidental straggler, 

 into the long catalogue of species which occur in the 

 British islands. 



The common European cuckoo (Cuculits canorus, 

 or singing cuckoo) is a bird about the size of a small 

 pigeon, or rather appearing: of that si/.e from the very 

 great quantity of feathers with which it is clothed. 

 Its bill is blackish brown, yellowish at the base ; the 

 corners of the mouth and the rim around its eyes 

 bright orange ; the irides gamboge yellow ; gape 

 orange red. Its head, neck, breast, and upper parts 



are of a deep bluish grey, darkest upon the wing- 

 coverts. The whole of the belly, thighs, and under 

 tail-coverts whitish, with transverse black bars. 

 Inner webs of the quill-feathers with oval white spots. 

 Tail black, with a few white oblong spots along the 

 shafts of the feathers, which are also tipped with 

 white. Legs and feet lemon yellow. 



The Common Cuckoo. 



The above is the adult livery of the male bird ; 

 and the mature female differs only in being always 

 more or less marked upon the breast -and sides of the 

 neck with rufous bars, somewhat similar to those of 

 the young. 



The well known vernal call note of this species, 



its 



" Note of fear, 

 Unpleasing to a married ear," 



is generally first heard in the south of England about 

 the second week in April, sooner or later, however* 

 in some measure according to the temperature of the 

 season ; for, if the weather continue cold and bleak, 

 though the birds have made their appearance, their 

 note is but very seldom repeated. This call note is,, 

 indeed, at all times very much affected by the state of 

 the weather; during a long continuance of drought 

 it gradually becomes more and more hoarse, till, at 

 length, it seems to be uttered with considerable effort, 

 and the first syllable of it is often broken into two or 

 three ; but no sooner does the wind veer to a rainy 

 quarter, than, before even a change is visible in the 

 sky, it immediately softens, and is pronounced quite 

 musically and distinct. We are at present in some 

 doubt as to whether this cry cuckoo, is common to 

 both sexes ; but the writer of this article inclines 

 rather to assume the contrary, at least, till it can be 

 positively shown, from the examination of a female 

 that had been heard to sing, that this really is the 

 case : generally speaking, he is pretty confident that 

 the hen bird does not utter the note. 



There is, however, another cry, which certainly 

 is repeated by both sexes, though most frequently 

 by the female cuckoo ; it may be expressed by 

 the sound cul or cuil, repeated several times in rapid 

 and continuous succession, and it is invariably uttered 

 either when the bird is upon a tree, generally the 

 moment before it takes wing or immediately after, 

 sometimes the one and sometimes the other ; this note 

 very closely resembles one or two passages in the 

 nightingale's song, and we may always calculate upon 

 seeing the bird flying immediately after hearing it. 

 The other and more generally known note cuckoo, 

 is alike repeated either when the bird is perched or 



