212 HISTORY OF 



of constraint, as it was always put into their 

 mouths ; but meal-worm insects they flew to, and 

 swallowed of their own accord most greedily. 

 Indeed, their gluttony is not to be wondered at 

 when we consider the capacity of their stomach, 

 which is enormous, and reaches from the breast- 

 bone to the vent. It is partly membranous, part- 

 ly muscular, and of a prodigious capacity ; yet 

 still they are not to be supposed as birds of prey, 

 for they have neither the strength nor the cou- 

 rage. On the contrary, they are naturally weak 

 and fearful, as appears by their flying from small 

 birds, which everywhere pursue them. The 

 young birds are brown mixed with black j and 

 in that state they have been described by some 

 authors as old ones. 



The cuckoo, when fledged and fitted for flight, 

 follows its supposed parent but for a little time ; 

 its appetites for insect food increasing, as it finds 

 no great chance for a supply in imitating its little 

 conductor, it parts good friends, the step-child 

 seldom offering any violence to its nurse. Never- 

 theless, all the little birds of the grove seem to 

 consider the young cuckoo as an enemy, and re- 

 venge the cause of their kind by their repeated 

 insults. They pursue it wherever it flies, and 

 oblige it to take shelter in the thickest branches 

 of some neighbouring tree. All the smaller birds 

 form the train of its pursuers ; but the wry-neck, 

 in particular, is found the most active in the 

 chase ; and from thence it has been called by 

 many the cuckoo's attendant and provider. But 

 it is very far from following with a friendly in- 



