CUCKOO. 165 



ceed from the rump, are blackish, without beards, and 

 extend far below the tail and wings. Near their extremi- 

 ties these shafts become bearded, and form a pretty large 

 circle, of an emerald colour, bright and varying, 



THE CUCKOO. 



The note of the cuckoo is universally known : but its 

 real history, and the country to which it migrates, are in- 

 volved in much obscurity. 



Its bill and claws are smaller and weaker than those of 

 other rapacious fowls. It has round and prominent nos- 

 trils on the surface of the bill, which alone distinguish it 

 from all other birds. The lower part of the body is of a 

 yellowish colour, with black transverse lines under the 

 throat, and on the top of the breast: the head, the upper 

 part of the body, and the wings, are marked with tawny 

 and black transparent stripes ; and on the top of the head 

 are a few white spots. The legs are feathered down to 

 the very feet. 



The arrival of the cuckoo is considered, at least in this 

 country, as the harbinger of spring. The note of this 

 bird is so uniform, that its name in every language is de- 

 rived from it. Neither here nor in other countries does it 

 ever make a nest of its own ; but deposits its eggs in that 

 of some other bird, to whom it leaves the care of hatch- 

 ing them, and rearing the young. A water-wagtail, or 

 even a hedge-sparrow, frequently officiates as nurse to the 

 young cuckoos ; and, if they happen to be hatched at the 

 same time with its own offspring, they quickly extrude the 

 latter from the nest. 



When the young cuckoo is sufficiently fledged, it soon 

 quits its foster-parent, and pursues its native propensities. 

 What becomes of the family in winter is as little known 

 as the retreat of the swallow. Some imagine that they 

 lie torpid in hollow trees ; and Willoughby tells a curious 

 story of some logs of wood being put into an oven to heat, 

 when a cuckoo, being revived in this extraordinary man- 

 ner, began to utter its note, to the great astonishment of 



