Culicilega Cuculus 67 



black and white, and it has a long tail, which it is always 

 jerking. It mostly haunts the banks of rivers, where it 

 catches flies and little worms ; moreover it follows the 

 plough for the sake of the worms which are turned up and 

 laid bare with the clod. 



OF THE CUCULUS. 



KoKKvg, cuculus, in English a cukkow, and a gouke, in 

 German eyn kukkuck. 



ARISTOTLE. 



By some the Cuculus is thought to come by 

 change of form from an Accipiter 1 , since, at the 

 season when the former appears, the Accipiter which 

 it resembles is not seen. But commonly it so falls out 

 that the other Accipitres are likewise absent when 

 the Cuculus utters its earliest cry, save for a very few 

 days. Further the bird itself is only seen for a short 

 time in summer ; it is not observed in winter. Nor 

 has it the claws hooked as an Accipiter, nor yet a 

 head like an Accipiter : but in both of these parts it 

 counterfeits a Columbus rather than an Accipiter. In 

 naught but colour does it imitate the Accipiter, except 

 that in its marks, it is distinguished as it were by 

 lines, the Cuculus by spots. The size and mode of 

 flight are like those of the least of the Accipitres, 

 which for the most part at the time wherein the 

 Cuculus appears, is not to be observed. Yet on 

 occasion both have been seen at once. The Cuculus, 

 moreover, has been known to be struck down by the 

 Accipiter, which thing no bird is ever wont to do to 

 one of its own kind. Nobody says that he has seen 

 young of the Cuculus, and yet it breeds, although 

 not in a nest which it has made itself: but sometimes 



1 Such a tradition is still common in many parts of this country and 

 on the Continent. 



52 



