194 



CUCKOO. 



Sestionably a mere variety of the common species 

 s interesting specimen much resembles a newb 

 discovered smaller cuckoo from the Himalaya. 



Like the raven and other birds in which the egg h> 

 disproportionately small, the young cuckoo grows 

 very rapidly in the nest, and its diminutive foster 

 parents are obliged to labour hard and perseveringly 

 to satisfy its increasing voracity ; it requires even to 

 be tended for a longer period than any other birc 

 with which we are acquainted, remaining five or six 

 weeks in the nest ; and even long after it has flown 

 its assiduous nurses may be seen to follow it with 

 food ; and in confinement it will very rarely feed o: 

 itself till it is two or three months old ; at all times 

 indeed, even when able to pick up its own food, prefer- 

 ring to be fed by those to whom it is accustomed. In 

 a wild state, the young cuckoo that has begun to fly, 

 however it may seek to hide itself, may generally be 

 traced by a concourse of numerous small birds chat- 

 tering around it, among which the swallow kind are 

 mostly very conspicuous, seemingly endeavouring, to 

 the utmost of their power, to annoy it ; amidst all 

 which turmoil the pair that have brought it up con- 

 tinue constantly to bring it caterpillars and other 

 insects. A writer observes of one, in the Magazine 

 of Natural History, that " it was seen again on June 

 12th, on the top of a wall near to the nest ; and, while 

 it was sitting here, an amusing and instructive sight 

 presented itself. A thrush, which probably had a 

 nest close by, in an adjoining garden, evinced the 

 most passionate and marked antipathy toward the 

 young cuckoo, by approaching it with feathers ruffled, 

 beak open, and uttering an earnest cry ; some small 

 birds too drew near, as if to exhibit their dislike, and 

 abet the thrush. This is indeed quite an ordinary 

 fact ; small birds seem to consider the young cuckoo 

 as an enemy, and they persecute it with the same 

 unremitting hostility, and chatter round it with the 

 same unwearied pertinacity which they exhibit toward 

 a weasel or an owl. This is the more singular, as 

 these very birds may, in their turn, themselves become 

 the nurses of a young cuckoo. The same animosity 

 is shown by the different swallows towards the old 

 bird, which they frequently attack and buffet as it 

 flies along. 



The cuckoo's food consists principally of insects, 

 chiefly however the larger caterpillars, whether 

 smooth or hairy ; these it first kills, by shaking and 

 knocking them violently against the bough on which it 

 is perched, and then renders them perfectly pliant by 

 passing them several times through the bill, before 

 it swallows them. In confinement it seems very fond 

 of the common house-fly, which it will readily take 

 from the hand of a person it is accustomed to. It 

 also feeds largely in spring upon the common may 

 chaffer (Melolontha vulgaris), and has been seen to 

 capture dragon flies on the wing. As the summer 

 advances it will attack various kinds of^fruit, as cher- 

 ries and currants. Most probably also, as has already 

 been mentioned, it devours birds' eggs ; but cater- 

 pillars are its principal and main food, the exuviae of 

 which it casts up in the manner of a hawk, in pellets, 

 about the size of a sparrow's egg. It is in search of 

 these that the cuckoo is so often seen about fruit 

 trees, to which it doubtless renders an efficient ser- 

 vice, as it not only preys upon those which have 

 grown to some size, but also, in the spring, may be 

 frequently seen deliberately picking out the newly 

 hatched larva? from their webs ; an operation which 



has strangely enough been construed by many gar- 

 deners and others into " sucking the blossoms," if any 

 meaning can be attached to this phrase. 



Whilst feeding upon a tree, the cuckoo leans very 

 forward upon the bough on which it is sitting, as it 

 examines the foliage for caterpillars, its tail being 

 generally raised ; and it frequently takes very consi- 

 derable leaps from bough to bough, considering the 

 shortness of its legs. The writer of this has never 

 seen it climb in any sort of way, nor walk up a branch, 

 using its feet alternately ; but conceives that the only 

 use of its having two toes on each foot placed back- 

 ward, is to enable it more firmly to grasp its perch 

 whilst leaning so very forward. 



" The tree cuckoos," observes Sir W. Jardine, 

 " though often found near woods, and in richly 

 clothed countries, are fond of open and extensive 

 heaths or commons, studded or fringed with brush and 

 forest : here they may expect an abundant supply 

 of the foster parent to their young. Their gliding 

 and turning motion, when flying in a thicket, is simi- 

 lar to that of the American Coccyzus. Like them, 

 also, they are seldom on the ground ; but when obliged 

 to be near it, alight on some hillock or twig, where 

 they will continue for a considerable time, swinging 

 round their body in a rather ludicrous manner, with 

 .lowered wings and expanded tail, and uttering a rather 

 low monotonous sound, resembling the kowe of the 

 American bird 



' Turning round and round with cutty-coos 



" When suddenly surprised or disturbed from their 

 roost at night, they utter a short tremulous whistle, 

 three or four times repeated ; and it is only on their 

 first arrival, during the early part of incubation, when 

 in search of a mate, that their well-known and wel- 

 come note is heard : by the first of July all is silent." 

 It is not, however, very often that an opportunity 

 occurs of studying this bird's habits so very minutely; 

 all are acquainted with its note, and there are few 

 persons residing in the country, but must have often 

 observed it, as, somewhat in the manner of a pigeon, 

 but less steadily, it wings its way from tree to tree ; 

 but the bird is so vigilant and shy, that very few even 

 of those who try to study its habits, can ever get to 

 notice it more particularly, excepting, perhaps, by 

 mere accident, once or twice only in their lives. 



When first taken from the nest, the young cuckoo 

 is extremely savage and voracious, buffeting and spar- 

 ring with its wings like a gamecock, and uttering all 

 the time a shrill cry. They are easily enough reared 

 upon raw meat, but are difficult to keep through the 

 winter, being very tender about the moulting period, 

 which usually takes place about January. In the 

 ourse of a little time, they mostly become tolerably 

 attached to those they know, but are generally very 

 before strangers. Buffon, indeed, says, " though 

 cunning and solitary, the cuckoo may be given some 

 sort of education. Several persons of my acquaint- 

 ance have reared and tamed them. They feea them 

 on minced meat, either dressed or raw, insects, eggs, 

 soaked bread, and fruit. One of these tamed cuckoos 

 mew its master, came at his call, followed him to 

 .he chace, perched on his gun, and if it found a 

 cherry tree in its way it would fly to it, and not 

 return till it had eaten plentifully ; sometimes it 

 tvould not return to its master for a whole day, but 

 bllowed him at a distance, flying from tree to tree." 

 The writer of this article has seen a pair that were 



