CUCKOOS. 213 



moths; before swallowing them, the Cuckoo is 

 said to cut off the hinder extremity of the body 

 with its beak, and by repeated jerks to free the 

 insect from the intestinal canal. The note is 

 loud, and uttered frequently in a lengthened and 

 melancholy manner, especially early in the morn- 

 ing, and at the approach of evening; sometimes 

 it is emitted even in the night. 



The most remarkable circumstance in the eco- 

 nomy of this genus, and one which, as far as 

 is yet known, is common to the whole of its nu- 

 merous and widely-spread species, is that the 

 female makes no nest for its own economy, but 

 deposits its eggs in the nests of small birds, 

 always selecting such as are insectivorous, and 

 for the most part such as belong to the Denti- 

 rostral tribe. The whble care of hatching and 

 rearing the young, is now left to the foster-parent ; 

 and as the wants of so large an intruder, addi- 

 tional to those of their own offspring, would be 

 more than the efforts of the selected nurses could 

 supply, an- instinct is implanted in the young 

 Cuckoo, by which, even from the very day of its 

 birth, it is impelled to eject from the nest the right- 

 ful tenants of it. This, in the case of our well- 

 known Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus, LINN.), 

 whose habits are better known than those of 

 others, is effected by the newly-hatched Cuckoo 

 insinuating the hinder part of its body under the 

 young of the foster-parent, and raising it upon 

 its loins, which are remarkably broad, and even 

 hollowed, when, lifting it to the rim of the nest, 

 it deliberately throws it overboard; nor does it 

 cease until it finds itself the sole occupant of the 

 nest, and the sole recipient of the attentions of 



