400 INSESSORES. CUCULUS. CUCKOO. 



are not able to fly in less than five or six weeks, which facts 

 have been ascertained from repeated observation. 



From what has been above written, it will be evident that 

 I do not lean to the opinion of those who think that the 

 Cuckoo remains in this country during the winter, in a state 

 of torpidity, concealed in the hollows of trees, or in the thick- 

 est parts of furze-bushes. One or two instances of such an 

 occurrence are not sufficient authority upon which to build 

 a general assertion, with respect to the species ; and I should 

 conceive that those denuded Cuckoos mentioned by WIL- 

 LOUGHBY and BEWICK as thus discovered, must have been 

 young birds of late hatchings, not sufficiently strong to leave 

 this country even at the latest period of migration. Attempts 

 to rear the Cuckoo have often been made, but hitherto un- 

 successfully, as it never reaches to the succeeding spring *. 

 I have not been able to keep them alive beyond the month 

 of February, although supplied with abundance of natural 

 food ; and it is scarcely necessary to add, that they never 

 shewed any signs of torpidity, nor any wish to hybernate. 

 The natural food of the Cuckoo consists of insects, particu- 

 larly the hairy larvae of same of the lepidopterous order : 

 one of these it first kills, by passing it through the sharp 

 tomia, or edges of its mandibles, it then adroitly cuts off 

 the hinder end, and, by repeated jerks, frees the caterpillar 

 of the intestinal canal, after which it swallows it whole. The 

 well-known notes of the Cuckoo are confined to the male, 

 the female making only a chattering noise. It is a bold and 

 fierce bird, and when handled, even at an early age, ruffles 

 its feathers, and defends itself with eagerness. 



PLATE 37. Figure of the natural size. 



General Bi}} blackish-brown, yellowish at the base. The corners 



tion. of the mouth, and the rim round the eyes, orange. 



Irides gamboge-yellow. Gape orange-red. Head, neck, 



* I have since learnt that the Cuckoo has been kept over winter, and at- 

 tained maturity in confinement. 



