3 o 4 THE BIRDS 



skin of the defenceless animals, and digging holes in the flesh to 

 reach, it is said, the kidney-fat. It has, indeed, become such a 

 terrible pest to sheep-breeders that a price has been set upon its 

 head by the Government, and the Kea will in all probability before 

 long be exterminated. 



The Cuckoos and Plaintain-eaters are grouped by many au- 

 thorities with the parrot tribe in the order Cuculiformes, on account 

 of their zygodactylous feet ; by others they are placed by them- 

 selves in the order Cuculi ; others again consider that their nearest 

 allies are the woodpeckers, kingfishers, bee-eaters, etc., from various 

 peculiarities in their structure. 



The Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is one of the birds which is 

 more often heard than seen ; nearly everyone is familiar with its 

 monotonous note, but the bird itself is not so commonly 

 known. In appearance it is distinctly hawk-like, which probably 

 accounts for it being often mobbed by small birds ; the back and 

 throat are greyish brown, the breast is barred with white and dark 

 grey, and the dusky wings and tail show a few white markings. 

 The Cuckoo's note is heard on our shores early in April, and it 

 repeats its monotonous cry with much persistence and energy 

 until June, by which time it has become very hoarse, and its first 

 note is sounded twice. In July the bird wings its way to its 

 winter quarters in South Africa, Ceylon, or the Celebes. 



The Cuckoo is chiefly interesting from its strange habit of 

 depositing its eggs in the nests of other birds and leaving its young 

 to be brought up by foster-parents. How the egg actually got 

 into the nest was for a long time a matter of controversy, but 

 it is now known that the Cuckoo lays her egg on the ground, picks 

 it up with her bill," and so carries it to, and places it in, the nest of 

 the bird she has chosen as its guardian. The nests most frequently 

 selected by the Cuckoo are the hedge-sparrow's, robin's, meadow- 

 pipit's, pied wagtail's, and reed warbler's. The birds never appear 

 to object to the presence of the Cuckoo's egg in the nest, and when 

 it hatches treat the intruder in every way as if it were their own 

 offspring; nor, so far as we know, do they notice the mysterious 

 disappearance of the rightful occupants of the nest, which are 

 tipped over the edge by the young Cuckoo when it is some thirty 

 hours old. When first hatched the bird has a curious depression 

 in the middle of its broad, naked back, and into this hollow it 



