CUCKOO. 



195 



tolerably tame, that were allowed the free range of a 

 large kitchen, where they commonly used to sit upon 

 the fender, warming themselves by the fire. They 

 are apt in confinement to suffer very much from ex- 

 cess of the migratory feeling, which not unfrequently 

 causes the death of those that are prevented from 

 following this natural impulse. 



Upon the whole this species exhibits, when in a 

 state of confinement, a greater degree of attachment 

 to its feeder than we should be prepared to expect. 

 Its brain, we may remark, is very small, scarcely 

 weighing twenty grains, which only exceeds the 

 weight of one of its eyes by a grain and a half. 



The old cuckoos are always the very first of our 

 summer migrants to leave the country, as the majority 

 of them retire southward in the first week in July. 

 Woodmen and others say that they congregate, be- 

 fore taking their departure, in flocks of twenty or 

 thirty ; and the writer of this is likewise informed, 

 upon very good authority, of a flock of sixteen young 

 ones being seen, in September, in the north of Scot- 

 land, flying in a south-easterly direction towards the 

 German ocean, which, at the place of observation, 

 was distant about half a mile. It is probably only in 

 the less populous districts that this can ever be ob- 

 served. Where the mass of them spend the winter 

 has never been specifically ascertained, though speci- 

 mens have been received from Egypt. 



" Naturalists," says Mr. Selby, " have been puzzled 

 to account for this bird not performing the office of 

 incubation, but as their researches have principally 

 been directed to the anatomical structure, in which 

 point it does not essentially differ from many others 

 that perform this office, we arrive by these means at 

 nothing satisfactory. The above peculiarity of this 

 remarkable genus must not probably be looked for in 

 any principle of conformation, but must be explained 

 from their habits and economy. 



" Let it be remembered these birds are migratory, 

 and that he period during which the adults remain 

 with us if very short ; but the propagation of the 

 species rcust be effected during that period. Now, 

 as their arrival does not take place before the month 

 of April, and the egg is seldom ready for incubation 

 before trie middle of May, there would not be a suffi- 

 cient length of time for the young to be hatched, or 

 (making every allowance) sufficiently fledged to ac- 

 company the old birds at the period of their departure, 

 which seldom or never extends," in the north of 

 England, " beyond the first week in July." 



This perhaps is about as good an explanation of 

 the cuckoo's peculiarities as has hitherto been offered, 

 but it fails, like all the rest, in being quite inapplica- 

 ble to the case of the North American cow-bunting. 

 The true cause (whatever that may be) of this extra- 

 ordinary deviation must, we are persuaded, be the 

 same in both ; nor can we at present consider any 

 explanation as satisfactory that will not alike apply 

 to either. That the old cuckoos, however, should 

 retire southward in the very hottest part of the sum- 

 mer is certainly a very curious matter, and the cause 

 of this requires further investigation. It cannot be 

 for want of food, for they are then always in prime 

 condition ; and caterpillars, their main subsistence, 

 are then much more abundant than when they arrive 

 in spring. No observations, however, have as yet 

 been made upon the cuckoo in its winter quarters, and 

 till this has been done it is of little use attempting to 

 theorise upon the subject. The natural history ol 



this remarkable bird still offers a wide field for inves- 

 tigation, and it will probably be a long time yet before 

 our knowledge of it can be any thing like complete. 

 It is, without exception, the most extraordinary bird 

 ;hat occurs on the European continent, and as such 

 ;t merits peculiar and close attention from all who 

 take an interest in natural history. Observations 

 upon it must be multiplied, both at home and abroad, 

 and a great deal must yet be elicited, before a variety 

 of points can be cleared up on which at present we 

 have little more than conjecture. 



Of the genus Cuculus, a considerable number of 

 species are enumerated, inhabiting different parts of 

 the eastern continent, but chiefly Africa, and varying 

 in size from double that of our bird to less than half. 

 We know, however, very little of their habits, and 

 nothing but what is in entire accordance with those 

 of the species which inhabits Europe. Like it, they 

 are all understood to deposit their eggs in the nests 

 of other birds, but the fact, we believe, has not been 

 ascertained in more than one or two, and even in 

 these rests as yet on the authority of a single observer. 

 Instead, therefore, of entering here into a long detail 

 of colours and proportions, which are very little inte- 

 resting to the general reader, we will pass on at once 

 to give a brief account of their American representa- 

 tives, the members of the genus Coccyzus, which, with 

 one or two exceptions in Africa, are all confined to 

 the western division of the globe ; and we do this the 

 rather, as our account of the European cuckoo has 

 been extended to a very considerable length. 



The Coccyzi, as a group, are mostly rather smaller 

 than the true cuckoos, which in their general appear- 

 ance they much resemble. The bill is, however, rather 

 larger in proportion, and the tarsi longer, and bare of 

 feathers. Their plumage is generally rufous on the 

 upper parts, white beneath, and more or less marked, 

 with white upon the tail ; and, unlike the cuckoos, 

 the young much resemble the adults. They are 

 rather more confined to the interior of woods than 

 the true cuckoos, and they build their own nests, and 

 rear their young. Several beautiful species are found 

 in South America, and two in the northern division 

 of that continent, one of which has been already 

 mentioned as an occasional straggler to the British 

 islands. This bird, the Coccyzus Carolinensis, is thirteen 

 inches long, and sixteen in extent of wing, the whole 

 upper parts are of a dark glossy drab, or what is 

 commonly called a quaker colour, with greenish silky 

 reflections ; inner vanes of the wings bright reddish 

 cinnamon. Tail long, composed of twelve feathers, 

 the two middle ones being the same colour as the 

 back, the others, which gradually shorten to the ex- 

 terior ones, are black, largely tipped with white ; the 

 two outer ones scarcely half the length of the middle 

 ones. All the under parts pure white, the feathers 

 covering the thighs (tibia}) being long, as in the hawk 

 tribe. Legs and feet light blue. Bill dusky black 

 above, and yellow below. Irides hazel, with the 

 eyelids bright yellow. The female much resembles 

 the other sex, but has four of the middle tail feathers 

 like the back, and her white is not quite so pure. 



" A stranger," says Wilson, " who visits the United 

 States for the purpose of examining their natural pro- 

 ductions, and passes through our woods in the month 

 of May or June, will sometimes hear, as he traverses 

 the borders of deep, retired, high timbered hollows, 

 an uncouth guttural sound or note, resembling the 

 syllables koiue, fcowe, fcowe-kowc-fcowc, beginning 

 N 2 



